Schoolhouse Rock: Symphony of the Future
by RexRock
Summary: [COMPLETED!] The third chronicle in the series takes Neo Cortex back to his childhood roots, and learns to fight for his future... (please R&R!)
1. A Hero's Welcome

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Heh. It's been a while since I last visited the Crash section of the site. I would have thought my time here would be over because no one paid attention to Galaxy of Europe, but I've managed to pay attention to my own flaws and put forward a more gradual release.

This story is seen as the third in the "Schoolhouse Rock" series of fics, based upon the origins of Neo Cortex and his hunt for his four siblings that heavily scarred his childhood home in Florida. Accompanied by wise-cracking reptile Snappy Gator, New Mexican ex-slave Nitrus Brio, and a wolverine by the name of Boron, these four are practically seen as a determined team, set to get what they desire.

Before you read the story, I can tell that there are some points that you may get lost. About a year ago I wrote an outdated-yet-essential "Power Crisis" set of stories that was more based upon the time before SR1. This basically stars Neo again, this time being surrounded by kids his age, looking onto the cause of his father's sudden change of moods from peaceful to homicidal – homicidal enough to inflict a small n-shaped scar on his forehead just for confronting him, and almost use his strengths to destroy the city. The link of his power lies within Volcano Isle, an island that resided near the edge of the city (anyone who's read Galaxy of Europe will be familiar with it), and that in itself faced a legend of mysterious magical inheritances to three youths, including Cortex himself.

Either way, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing this last year.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

(scene starts off with the camera looking at a cloudy sky)

"We all have our focus within our hearts, to strive to what we need to achieve for. Those that we wish to continue with in our own lives."

-FANFICTION.NET PRESENTS-

"Some of us face relatively normal experiences, while some others face some more scandalous pathways. The latter of which could seem more difficult to use, as no one knows what lies within them."

-A Fanfic by Ms RexRock-

"It is even rarer when that sort of thing happens to several people all at once, and even today, these kind of achievements are those to be witnessed by for generations to come..."

(scene blurs into a present day city landscape. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - "The Power of Love" starts playing at this point")

The streets of Panama City, Florida, are shown in rush hour. Several cars and vans can be seen driving up and down the numerous highways and junctions within that city. As that happens, the camera focuses onto a white postal van. It leaves a junction near a shopping precinct, and starts driving towards a set of deserted roads. As it continued further and further, the roads were getting narrower. It wasn't long until it faced an old fashioned back street, with its wheels bumping up and down against the rough surface. This continued for a few seconds, before it ended up steering onto a firm road again, sending in a few skid marks into the ground. And then, it stopped right in front of a small flat, surrounded by an apple orchard. A mailman stepped out from the vehicle, and picked up a package. He went up towards the door, and placed it at the step. He knocked on it, and the door creaked open - out came a woman in her late 30's, with short brown hair, and formal dress. She picked up the package, and went back inside. While the mail vehicle drove off, she tore open the package, and saw what was inside it - a book.

(music goes instrumental at this point)

She took a look at its mahogany cover, and started to blink at it with suspicion. It didn't even seem to have a title! Then, she took a grip of the cover, and looked inside. Still no title, but a loose photograph was seen - that of a scientist, with black hair and a beard, a white lab coat, and an uppercase 'N' tattooed on his head. Her eyes widened at the sight. She placed the photograph onto the mantelpiece, and turned the pages, where she found the first paragraph of the book.

"A youth hood filled with torture, barely any benefits, and very few friends. You expect that kind of life to belong to box shifters at the local Taco Bell, but do you expect such things to occur to a scientist? There seems to be much more to natural intelligence to the untrained eye, as that is something I managed to learn from myself, a very uncertain self, just over twenty years ago. Let me start my pathway by taking you 20 miles outside... my birth town in Florida."

A face filled with surprise started to form through her eyes, as she stood out from her seat, and went towards a balcony. She opened the windows, and a cold rush of air started to blow onto her face.

(camera goes up to the window and sees the sky again. An orchestral version of Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" starts playing at this point)

A set of doves started to fly near the balcony at that point, which were soon reflected into the woman's eyes, as she sat down on a chair and started reading the rest of the book. Tears started to go down her eyes, as the events within it all started to hit her head.

(camera returns to the sky and the title forms)

-SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK: Symphony of the Future-

(title fades out and the sky changes)

A pure blue sky can be seen at this stage, with the blistering glowing of the sun appearing in the sky, causing some light reflections into the camera. A set of blackbirds started to fly into the sky, before they flew to the right.

-May 20th, 1981 - 14:35 local time-

The camera dips down to the ground, where a desert road can be seen at this point. On a dusty path, we see a cream-colored jeep driving along the path. Through the window, four figures can be seen inside it. Near the front were two humans - one with black spiked hair, the other wearing typical Mexican costume. The two creatures that took the back seats were an anthro alligator, and a young natural wolverine, in ripped clothing. We focus on the black haired boy, who took the drivers' seat.

"The long travels have brought me so close to exhaustion. Six years beforehand, my relationship with my family had vanished, as they all went their separate ways."

He temporarily brought his eyes down to a photo frame near the window panel, and in there showed a picture of himself when he was younger, with four siblings and two parents by his side. A tear started to form in his eye.

"I talk to the stars, and they talk to the cities beneath, but there seemed to have been no answer about their future."

He lowered his head down... but as that happened, the Mexican male brought his hand onto his shoulder, causing him to look up ahead. They brought their heads into each other's direction, and both winked at each other.

"But even with those minor questions in mind, there are times like these when I wish that I can see my future, right before my very eyes. And on top of that, that for everyone else that I once left behind from my home."

His focus was brought back up ahead, and as he looked towards the distance... the reflection of something very tall started to show in his eyes. A gasp came from his mouth, and his eyes gradually started to shrink with surprise.

(U2 - "Even Better than the Real thing" (Perfecto Radio Edit) starts playing at this point)

A view of a city started to appear into focus. But it was unlike any other - it seemed to be 'two-faced'. One side was filled with tall skyscrapers, overlooking a peaceful side; the other was in ruins, most of the buildings being on fire. In the background, he started to smile.

"My calls were answered in my very mind, and then... I knew that how to see that answer for myself was closer than I once thought."

His face was soon brought into a wide ambitious grin, and then he brought his foot further down onto the pedal, causing some dust to rise as it drove down the path. While that happened, a bunch of clouds started to surround the sun, soon turning black.

(thunderclap)

One raindrop touched the ground, and another one, and another one, and yet another one. And that was until the whole ground started to fill with small puddles. Inside the jeep, the gator rooted into the back and pulled out a bright red umbrella, covering the whole group as they reached their way there.

(first verse)

While that happens, the storm starts to occur heavy within the city center. Along the bustling streets, we see a young girl about the same age as the black haired boy, with bushy brown hair, a red and green tank top and a frilly skirt. A bolt of lightning almost struck her, causing her to run. She ran around a corner, and came across three figures.

(chorus)

One of which showed himself as a male with long brown hair in a droopy spike formation, the second was an adult female with short pink hair, a small yellow bow in her hair, a green tank top and a pair of jeans; and the other was a pre-teen girl with ginger hair and pigtails, wearing a school uniform. The four of them started to dash out of the rain and head inside a nearby flat.

(second verse)

While that happened, a bus station started to pack with coaches. Two of which, colored cream and red respectively, stopped very close to one another. From one of them came three figures - a man with a sage's costume, a woman with an artist figure in her, and another woman, this time wearing a large golden medallion around her neck and a posh suit on her. From the second coach came the same amount of figures, but in different forms - a Goth with pale skin, a brown haired girl with RPG game-style clothing, and a man with bushy brown hair and a large trench coat.

(chorus)

The three of them all looked at each other, before... they looked down at photographs in front of them. They held the exact same people in front of them. And then, they started to smile at the sight of them, taking their hands and walking down towards the ruined part of the city.

(instrumental section)

Meanwhile, a few sparks - but not stars - could be seen in the sky. They went into several loop-the-loops in between rain clouds, and it wasn't long until one of which finally touched the ground with a boom. The light around him faded out, but even with that in mind, his figure was nothing more than a shadow. Only his green eyes could be seen. He looked his way towards the ruined part of the city, where his eyes were focused on a figure standing on top of a warehouse. He wore mainly green clothing, had shoulder length sea blue hair and a monkey's tail, and started to grow a goatee on his chin. The figure smiled over at him, before sneaking in the shadows towards him. Above him, five more sparks could be seen above him, zooming in the original spark's path.

(final section)

While that happened, the jeep was facing a chase from several bolts of lightning coming towards it. The gator struggled to keep a grip onto the umbrella, and the black haired boy struggled to keep his grip. He blinked, before he brought the jeep into a small suburban street, leaving a skid mark behind him. Then, a canal running through the city was seen right in front of him. He looked behind him, and the bolt were coming towards him. A major risk started to come - he placed his feet onto the brake, causing the vehicle to slow down... but it was struck by lightning, and it started to head down towards the waters of the canal - the place holding the gang's doom... or will it?

(scene fades to black)

---

The scene reforms into a sewer. The only sound that could possibly be heard was the sound of a turning wheel to the left. The scene soon revealed itself, showing the jeep upside down, with a wall broken behind it. Silence was seen within the wrecks for a while, before... the boy in the Mexican costume started to stir. His face started to twitch and he gave out a cough. He brought his face up, and raised his sombrero up slightly. The looks of the sewer area seemed to appear as a strange place to him - instead of it being covered in gunk, it held a lot of posters, had a double bed, and was overall set up like a regular home. His eyes were widened with surprise.

"What is this place? Is it like... somewhere irrational from our wildest dreams?", he muttered as he picked himself up.

He started to walk around, with his shadow being cast down towards the ground. And then... his feet felt something. He blinked, before he looked down... at a photograph. He picked it up, and inside it were the figures of the travelers that came with him... but six years younger.

"Oh my God...!", he exclaimed in a whisper.

He placed the photograph into his back, and ran back towards the wreckage. It took a good 30 seconds for him to pull the other three travelers into the middle of the room. Their unconscious keisters were brought together, and then he started shaking them as gentle as he could.

"Guys, budge up!" His gentle shakes started to turn to mad shoves. "I think I found something here!" He then started to bring his hands into dig-like pushes. "Take a look around!"

They started to come to their senses, and the view of the room was brought into their own eyes. Again, the figure started to walk around with his feet clattering against the ground. The gator was the first to raise his head up, and speak from his own mouth.

"Are you... God?", the alligator dizzily questioned from its jaws.

That comment left the male in the Mexican costume to laugh in his direction before speaking again. "Ha... no way Snappy, it's just me, Nitrus Brio."

From nearby, the wolverine started to shake. He brought his furry head up, with his purple fur shining like metal. Brio then looked towards him, and crouched down to his level, putting his hand on his back. He responded with a bark.

Brio gave out a light smile as he spoke. "You can tell how odd this place seems to be, eh Boron?"

He placed a paw above him, and looked around him. He started placing his front paws onto every single part of the surroundings, and on rare occasions he started sniffing them. Then, after a while he jumped back down to the group and sat down, responding with a raspberry from his mouth.

"I think I know what it is", a voice spoke from the wreckage.

They looked back towards the jeep, and from there, the boy with the black hair started to walk around, just blinking at the objects before looking back at everyone else with confidence.

Brio looked back at him and blinked. "Are you sure about this Neo?"

"Positive. According to the surroundings", he said as he walked closer to them, "we used to live here."

The words from his mouth started to ring inside their minds. Then, the four of them all stepped outside - right before their very eyes were visions of their lives they had there. One corner showed past versions of Neo and Snappy, sitting around a fireplace talking to each other. Another corner showed Snappy and Boron fishing. And across the other side of the water channels, a vision was seen of Boron tearing away a book in Neo's hand. Snappy's jaw dropped at that point.

"Then this means..." Before he could say anything else, he gave out a loud gasp.

He dashed down the pathway, and took a grip onto a long metallic ladder. He started climbing, and then... he met with a manhole cover. He pushed it off, and looked outside, at the city around them - they were in the rebuilt part of it. Then... a car came right towards him, causing him to dip his head back inside, and raise it as soon as it zoomed past.

"Man, these people sure know how to rebuild cities this quick", he said with a chuckle.

Neo soon made his way to the foot of the ladder and looked up from his viewpoint. "Not quite every square inch, okay?"

The three others soon brought themselves onto the tarmac above them. They looked over to the left, and saw the rebuilt side. And then they faced the right, and saw the part of the city still in ruins. Then, they both looked at each other, and then at the darkening skies.

"Well, we might as well make a stop here for the night before continuing the search for your siblings," Brio said as he slipped the manhole cover back in its place.

Snappy brought himself into a full standing position, before looking over at Neo. "Say, ever since you know more about our surroundings more than us, do you know a good place to go?

Silence was brought for a few seconds, while Neo stepped onto the sidewalk, and looked at the buildings. He looked down one of the streets, and saw a path leading down to the seashore side of town. And from there, his face was brought into a smile.

"I most certainly do. Follow me!"

He started walking down the path himself, with the rest of the group walking down with him. Their long shadows were trailed behind, as the sunset sky was about to commence. What will they find down that path? Their answers were nothing more than being on the horizon.

skies start to blacken at that point

Meanwhile, over at the ruined part of the city, only a few things seemed to stand as tall as those on the rebuilt side. One of which happened to be a factory, with no smoke coming out whatsoever; that goes to show it hasn't been used in weeks, months, or even years. From inside, something could be heard.

"So tell me again, what the bloomin' 'eck are we doing back here in this junkyard anyway?" a deep female voice spoke.

(scene changes to inside the factory)

The metallic parts inside the factory seemed a bit unused. Inside one of the rooms, four shadows can be seen in a large circle, each of which with only their eyes glowing in the darkness. One of which folded his arms, and leered to the person in front of him.

"You don't know anything, don't you Deksta?", said a deep and shady male voice.

"Sorry about that", she responded back.

"Well, you know that we wanted to fry our brother's corpse when we left this place behind years ago, right?", the male responded back.

"Yeah?", questioned a much younger female.

"Well, ever since we've heard no word from him in all this time, I think we have enough freedom to tackle every other single aspect of his youth life", he gestured with a light cackle.

"What do you mean, Tiko?", said a male with a rougher tone in its voice.

The shadow jumped up, and sat down on a ledge. He crossed his legs, and looked down at the others. His hair was then brought into the light, showing it as a bright blue color.

Tiko brought his voice forward again. "It'll be too good to be true. I've overheard about his inheritance of the magic of Volcano Isle. If the other two are gone - presuming they're still here - then maybe I can try something special."

"What on Earth are you talking about?", the rough male voice questioned much louder than before.

He stood up on the legs, and glided over to the other side of the room. His clothes were brought into full view - his green shirt, brown trousers, a red cloak around his neck, and a monkey's tail. The same figure that was seen in the storm. He sneered down at them all, before his voice was raised into a sudden remark.

"Something that my father failed to do on this day, nine years ago", he said with his eyes moving to his left.

---

The sun started to reach itself into the sky so that it showed itself as a passion pink color. While that happened, the four of them ended up making a stop inside a penthouse. Surrounding it were vehicles as far as the eye could see, as well as video cameras and people in posh suits - news journalists.

"Whoa, check out the press!", Snappy exclaimed with excitement. "I gotta find myself a place with them female journalists, rawr! "

He started drooling at one of which, in a pink suit and had deep brown skin. However, she was too busy concentrating on her report to notice. Back in the crowd, Neo took a hold onto his jaws and brought him aside.

"Never mind which one you want to date", he spoke with a slightly furious tone, "what's going on here?"

"Beats me, but if we want to find out, we may have to take a look over the cameras ourselves", said Brio with a blink.

"But how?", Neo questioned with his voice reaching a higher pitch. "Half the equipment's taller than US!"

As he said that, Boron started jumping up and down, barking, before he stood on both legs, giving out a broad smile and a pleading action on his hands.

"Okay, as long as your eyes are that reliable", said Neo nervously.

He jumped up with happiness, before he made his way onto his partner's head. The wolverine started shaking his head, gesturing that he wasn't high enough. So this left them another plan - climbing on top of Snappy, whose eyes shrunk at the touch of his feet on his back.

"Steady on, my clothes are 100% cotton!", he screamed with ticklishness.

A few seconds later, his feet were brought onto his shoulders, making the three of them stand as tall as a bungalow. Boron brought one of his paws out, and looked down towards the ground, eventually turning his face to worry. He gave out a howl.

"What is it boy?", Neo said as he ended up balancing on one foot at his position.

The wolverine climbed his way down to the ground, soon giving his partner room to jump down two seconds after. Once down, he gestured an ellipse-like shape with his paws and the imitations of zooming meteors in the sky. The group's eyes started to widen with surprise.

"A crater?", Neo questioned with shock. "But... how can one of those things form in tarmac?"

All that Boron could do was shrug, before hiding behind the others. He wasn't the only one feeling unsure - Brio was left looking from one corner to the other, with his nose twitching. His focus was brought onto a golden building nearby.

"Well, that's certainly stopping us from stopping here tonight", Brio ended up speaking with a bitter tone. "Let's try that inn on the other side of the street."

Neo gasped at him, before shouting "No!"

Brio started to run off, but the others soon caught him on the arms. All of them looked their way towards the direction of the house, and viewed the damage in silence before they stood ahead.

"We're still going in", Neo spoke again with a more rushed tone. "I demand an answer to this."

The press started to get much closer towards the front door, seeking for even more answers. But that was until the front door was swung open right in front of them, showing a girl with long and wavy brown hair and matching eyes, a colorful red and green tank top and a bright blue skirt, with shiny black shoes. She leered at the people surrounding her, and thrusted her right foot forward.

"Everyone, am-scray!", she screamed. "If you want to do some stupid news report, don't do it right in front of my house! Now GO! Get lost before I send Martha on you!"

The reporters started to leave one by one, taking their equipment with them. Within twenty seconds, the amount of cars around her house started to decrease into nothing. And as soon as the last one sped off down the main street, this left just Neo and his crew, facing her direction. She pointed her finger over at them, still raising her voice.

"And you too!", she shouted with a sigh.

The group stood still, like they never heard what she said. Silence was brought between them for five more seconds. Having seen that they haven't budged, her eyes widened with surprise.

"Why aren't you going?", she questioned with a more shaky voice.

Neo looked at her square in the eyes, which were soon widened with surprise. "Bev? Is that you?"

She gasped at his remark. Then, she clutched her chest and looked down. To her, it seemed that someone knew her but she never knew them back. Then she brought her head up and responded back.

"But..." She blinked. "How do you know me?"

"Remember me?"

He took a grip of his fringe, and lifted his hair up. The remains of what was under his head - a tattoo that took the shape of a lowercase 'n' - were there, causing her eyes to widen with shock.

"Neo?" She gasped. "But... you've changed! And... who are those three with you?"

"Let's just say they're a bunch of lodgers that helped me out of this town", he said with a wink.

"That sounded so strange", she responded back with shock. "My friends told me that you were killed in that blast six years ago! Say, come on in!"

She gestured with her hand to send them inside, and after that she started to walk in herself. As soon as she was out of view... Snappy brought himself into an outrage of foul laughter.

"Oh, look who's the zombie now!", he blurted out with laughter.

"Shut up", said Neo as he leered at him.

Angrily, he took a grip of his collar, and dragged him towards the door, soon turning his laughs into screams. He reached the front door, and while they were there both Brio and Boron gave out shrugs and followed them. Bev was back in view, picking a trench coat off the floor and putting it on its hook.

"So, who are your new 'lodgers' anyhow?", she questioned with a more confident voice.

Neo stood near her and pointed at his crew respectively. "Snappy Gator, Nitrus Brio, and Boron", he then spoke as he picked up the wolverine from the ground.

"It's a pleasure to meet you guys", she said with a smile.

She took out her hand for a handshake. As that happened, Boron blinked at it, took a grip of it, lifted it in the air, and looked underneath it. Shocked by the empty space, he shrugged and stood behind the others. She giggled at his attitude, before she walked down the hallways.

"Dare I ask", said Neo with his eyebrows raising, "but what happened with that crater anyway?"

"All answers are living right inside this room here. Sorry if it seems a bit packed, but", she shrugged, "It's better than nothing."

She pointed at a wooden door starting to fall off its hinges. She took a hold of the handle, and carefully opened it, giving it a creak as it opened. The light inside the room was brought onto the males' faces, giving them the chance to see what was inside. The room was brightly lit, with several people sitting down on sofas or standing up in conversation. Inside it, were three other humans, and five organisms that were like humans, but had physical features of different animals - two bandicoots, a dingo-dinosaur hybrid, a blue fox, and a wombat. Most of the group's eyes widened.

"Talk about a crowded house", said Neo in a whisper.

"Yeah, I know. Sure, you can recognize Gary Foster and his sister Sara, and my own sister Martha", she said as she pointed at the three of them.

"Hey, they've grown older since I last saw them!", he smiled and exclaimed.

He waved over at them, and the three waved at them back. Soon afterwards, Gary stood up. His spiked hair was brought into a ponytail at the back, he started to grow a brown goatee on him, and wore a businessman-like suit on him, with his tie going all the way down to his groin. As he walked over to them, Snappy's attention was brought onto the five creatures nearby.

"But that doesn't quite explain the furry critters at that side of the room there, ya?", he questioned with his arms on his hips.

"Well", Gary responded with his voice rising in volume, "they're the reason why the press tried to invade us!"

"No shit Sherlock?", Snappy questioned as he looked at the five again.

Then with no second thoughts, he turned his head back towards Gary. A face of panic started to show on his face, before the creatures soon walked towards him. One of the bandicoots - being the smaller of the two, wearing denim pants and having orange fur - lead the pack, with the other - a muscular one with brown fur and army pants and boots - right behind him.

"Do I have to explain everything to you?", the orange bandicoot questioned at Snappy.

"Why?"

"I hate to say this", the brown bandicoot started speaking with a lower tone than the orange one, "but us five here have come from the future." He pointed at himself. "I'm Crunch", he said before pointing at the orange bandicoot. "He's Crash, and the others", he said before pointing at the dingodino, the blue fox and the wombat creature respectively, "are Spike, Zephyr and Chyna."

"Sounds nice to meet you", said Brio with a light grin.

He took out his hands, and Crunch brought out one of his arms - covered in metal plating - into a handshake. Upon his grasp... Brio screamed at the sight before he pulled it away and started clutching it, tapping it better. Snappy stood ahead, and then spoke.

"So basically, you're fortune tellers, right?", he questioned with a blink.

"Close", Crash responded back, "although I never want to travel in a gypsy caravan in my life. --;"

"Well can you tell me what's going on back at my home in New Mexico right now?", said Brio with over-excitement.

"We can't think that far", said Crunch with disappointment. "Sorry kid."

Brio soon raised his voice before stepping closer. "PLEASE!!! I WANNA FIND OUT ABOUT MY MOTHER!!!!"

Both bandicoots soon stood up straight, with their pupils shrunk and with large anime sweat drops down their faces. Then, they looked at each other and exchanged 'scratching head' glances. Then, Zephyr stood ahead of the group and spoke from his mouth.

"Well, here's something we can tell", he said as he placed both hands together.

"Okay, fire away", Brio responded back with confidence. "We can take it! Come on!"

"We're here to give you a future", said Crash.

The group looked at him with curiosity and panicked eyes. Doesn't everyone in the room seem to have a future? He walked up and down the room, before he sat down with his legs in a crossed motion. The reason behind his saying was coming.

-end of part 1-


	2. Enter N Trance

AUTHOR NOTES

If you saw the intro part, then thank you very much for seeing it. Even if I did get a small response, I still feel happy with what's been layered down.

This next part basically allows the listener to understand the purpose of why the five anthros from the future, lead by Crash, came to 1981 to help Cortex - their own foe.

It also introduces the concept of a "wolarcoot" creature into the story. These creatures, established by long-term Deviantart buddy Cherry Vincent, are shown as god-like creatures from a distant time (several millennia ago) and planet (Yevron). Even she was happy with my thoughts on making a critter for myself, as she was with several other friends she had before.

I was originally going to release this tomorrow, but because of my dad wanting to rebuild the computer from scratch, it had to come right now.

Either way, have fun reading the part.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

(black and white photos can be seen on screen)

The photos showed that of a tropical paradise, with the sun starting to loom through the palm trees. In the background, a mountain can be seen, with a castle standing high upon it. Between the scenery, a shadow can be seen making its way up towards it.

"We live roughly 25 years away from your time, on an island far from here. You had a link to our lives, and were essential to our work. But then, it was until one fateful day came into hand. Some hideous creature came and went inside a time machine of yours. And over time, your own torso was starting to melt down into nothing. It seemed that this creature wanted to affect your very existence on the planet. Worried about what could happen to you, all five of us went inside it ourselves, wondering what kind of dastardly tricks he had in mind."

(scene turns back to normal)

"The chase brought us over here, and now that we've ended up finding you, Neo Cortex," said Crash with his finger pointing at him, "our quest could come closer to our advantages."

Neo's face became as blank as a block of butter. His eyes then shrunk down towards the size of sunflower seeds, and this left him looking down, trying to hide his expressions. He soon looked back up at the others, with a more nervous twitch in his jaws.

"But what have I got to do with anything?"

"He has a point", Gary responded in the background. "He's shown a sign of innocence ever since receiving the scar for life on his head."

"I may hate to state this to you," said Zephyr with a nervous twitch on his mouth, "but a prophecy from the creature told us that your next visit to Volcano Isle, whichever time we land in, could be your last."

His head shot up straight towards Zephyr's level, whose tail was lowered down to the ground, his nose starting to twitch as sympathetic as if he was at a best friend's funeral. On Neo's face, his looks soon started to change from curiosity straight into deep frustration.

"That can't be true!"

"But he didn't go crazy with the substance of life at the times we visited it... or did he?", Beverley questioned with her hand being brought onto her chin.

Neo gave out a rough shrug from his shoulders, before he started storming his way towards the windows, where he crouched down onto the ground and saw the moonlight start to penetrate the windows with a bright cyan glow across his face. But then, it wasn't long before he turned back to the others, whom all surrounded Zephyr with a lot of questions on their minds.

Brio was one of the first to stand close to him. "Could you find out anything more hideous about that creature?"

"Chyna be unsure," the wombat creature responded, "but Chyna know that creature no stranger to threat of planet."

Upon the sound of her voice they turned in her direction, whom was seen with her foot raised in the air, furiously trying to scratch her back with it. Then, from over her shoulder, a light blur started to show in the horizon. That caused Martha to jump at the sight and squeal over at it.

"Guys! I've found something!"

She ran straight towards the window, with her pigtails starting to droop behind her. Then, the others followed her and surrounded her at the windowsill, where she pointed over towards a shadow - one with a round top, a square-ish body, and a pair of long celery-stick-like legs.

"Is that the creature you're on about?", asked Bev with a giggle.

"Yep, and take a look at those legs", Spike said, pointing at its lower limbs. "Odd ya?"

His focused remained down towards the legs, where his eyes started to lower down with a smirk across his mouth. But it wasn't long until Crash came from behind him and took a grip of his head, raising it higher up slightly. Then, he was seen making his way towards a wreckage within the area.

"Wonder what he wants with the ruins of the city, eh?", Neo responded with a blink.

"I don't know," Spike said as he walked away from the window, "but there's one way to find out - to go in there ourselves."

He twitched his eyes in his direction, before he started to walk his way towards the front door. Some of the others remained standing in silence, while the others soon started to follow him. However, Crunch was one of those that came in front of him and blocked him right at the foot of the door.

"But isn't it a bit late?"

"Look, if Neo dies tomorrow, then I put the blame on you, Crunch!"

"Whoa, don't take it that harshly, ki-"

Before he could say anything else, Spike took a grip of him round his neck, and pushed him down towards the ground with a force that made him stagger and fall backwards out of the room, knocking over a coffee table holding a pair of clogs on it and landing with his head on the ground. Spike started to blush, before Gary emerged into view.

"You heard what the kid said. Might as well make our run."

With that, he took a light walk up towards Crunch, maintained a firm grip around his hands, and pulled him up with a calm expression on his face. Then, they all started to head their way towards the exit in single file, emerging into the almost pitch-black streets ahead of them all.

---

With the creature that Spike gestured at, he was seen making his dash down the streets of the wreckage, before he jumped into a raft at a nearby canal. He started using his hands to pedal it towards the open sea, where an island came into focus. Once there, he jumped right out towards it, with his feet landing with deep rectangle-like footprints in the ground.

"Well, so much for trying to track that kid down here", he spoke with a mutter.

He looked around in all directions, and saw the desert land right ahead of him. To the left was a rocky slope leading up towards a gigantic mountain-like structure in the center. And then, he looked to his right, where he saw patches of half-dead trees drooping down towards the ground.

"Wonder why my heart wanted me to pick to go to this place anyway", he whispered.

He started to walk towards a path from the center of the two structures, down towards a clearing at the foot of the "mountain". He then sat down, with his back leaning against it, and his eyes being brought down to the sparkling waters. A reflection of the moon can be seen within it. But then... the reflection started to glow a bright yellow color. That caused him to look up, and saw the real moon doing the same thing.

"Oh crud!", he exclaimed as he stepped back.

As he shouted that line, something started to spark inside his body. Without knowing, he was lifted high up into the air, chest first, and brought into the moonlight. He was then seen, with a round pink head that can almost be mistaken for the tip of an egg, silver armor round his torso with a red spiral on his chest, purple legs and arms made out of gold. Then, something from the body of the creature started to float out into the open air. It showed itself as a glimmering object, before it was fully brought into the light - a bright yellow stone. It then started to levitate itself higher into the sky, while at the same time, the figure was brought back down onto the ground via both feet.

"Talk about the powers of a stone", he said with awe.

He started to gasp at the sight of it, until a bright power surge started to fill it. Then, within the glow, the stone started to transform into a figure. It spurted wings, and had four limbs and a head. It had rough hair, a long pair of ears, and ragged clothing across it. Yet it remained as a shadow. Down below, the figure gasped at it.

"If you're a God," he said while pointing up towards the creature, "then I unleashed you! Nice to meet you, eh?"

He started to smile over at the figure, whose eyes started to glow with a strong current within the darkness. Then, it started flapping its wings with a slight bit of anger, before it suddenly took off over to the path leading right up to the top of the mountain-like structure. The reflection of the action was shown in the figure's eyes.

"Maybe not quite", he muttered.

It started to hover its way in between the trees, only popping out a few times to strike bolts of lightning down towards the ground, only just missing the figure by a few feet. That caused him to scream at the sight of them before he jumped out of their way and started to chase him himself, with his arms waving with a slight bit of anger within them.

"Hey, come back here!" He edged his way closer to him. "Why are you flying from me like this?"

He made his way up towards the slopes, where he was seen out-running the creature at an incredible speed at his feet. Then, the shadow turned around and started to growl over at the creature. From its hands, a bright yellow spark of energy took a shape within his hands, and he sent it straight towards his opponent, knocking him off the edge.

"OOF!"

That caused him to bounce up into the sky, and started plummeting his way through a bunch of bushes, before he landed at the foot of the slope - being another stretch of sand between him and the sea - and stood back up, looking at him. Back with the shadow, it started to make its way round to another nearby clearing, with its teeth brought together tightly.

Nearby, a wooden boat was seen along the banks of the water, sitting there peacefully. From nearby, four sets of footprints can be seen walking their way towards the slopes. In the light, four figures can be seen - one of Tiko, being the figure in the factories beforehand, and three others - a male younger than him, with green hair, some of which going over his right brown eye, and clothes in the form of a pair of jeans, a white shirt labeled "I Luv Led Zepplin" and a red baseball cap, two girls, with blonde and pink hair respectively, with the first having a pink cap with a spear on top, purple eyes and mainly green clothing, while the second wore a blue tank top, matching eyes and bottle-green trousers - all looking peacefully towards the night sky. But it wasn't until the winged figure came into view from behind a nearby ledge.

"Lio, watch out from ahead!", Tiko shouted as he pointed up at it.

The shout caused him to bring his head further ahead, and see the figure swoop faster and faster towards them. He was then 100 meters away from them and closing in. Within no time, the pair of them ducked towards the ground, with the feet of the figure barely touching them. The sound of a thunderclap was heard from behind them, soon causing them to look behind them, where they saw the blonde girl, standing there, looking like she's spent an evening in an oven.

"Oh my God Hallie," Lio responded with panic. "What's happened to your hair?"

"Let's just say it fried me like a toothpick...!"

With that, she started to quiver and fall down towards the ground, with her hands starting to limp slightly. From behind her, the pink haired girl came towards them, with her shoelaces starting to trail among the ground. With that, Lio immediately gestured over at her, with a finger pointing up into the air as he spoke.

"Deksta, did you see anything?"

"I think I did. It seemed to take a sharp form for a spark - it seemed to look more like... some sort of wolf dog."

This left the others scratching their heads over the remark, before they looked back at the direction of the figure, whom was starting to show itself as a blur within the night sky. Then, before they could look at the figure even further, a shout occurred from right behind them, causing their ears to prick up upon hearing it.

"STOP! I COMMAND YOU!!!" it shouted.

They all quickly turned around, and saw the pink creature in the suit running among the shorelines, with his feet starting to trail among the sand dunes beneath him. Upon the sight of him and his angry-like attitude, Tiko's face started to curve into a smile. He turned back to the others, whom all blinked at different intervals.

"Guys, I think we just found our answer on its origin."

He turned around, facing the creature again, whom was then seen 200 meters apart from him. They formed a line from the waters of the shores to the rock faces on the other side of the path. That left the creature to leer at them, with anger in his eyes.

"Hey, get out of the road! That was my beast I was meant to tame!"

"Speaking of which," Tiko said with a calmer tone, "what exactly is that?"

He pointed back over at the flying "wolf-dog", whom was seen starting to circle its way around the city like a spec in the darkness. Its shadow started to show itself getting smaller in size as time passed, leaving the creature's face to turn with a bright red color, showing that filled with anger. He then turned towards the others, waving his hands in the air.

"Never mind your beeswax mister! It's getting away!!!"

He then started to rush towards them and tackle them head first, trying to push them into the ground, but with failure. This left him sliding down Lio's pants, with his eyes brought down onto some pebbles scattered across the sand. He then looked back up towards the others, with Lio starting to look agitated, with his grip on his hands becoming tighter.

"Save your strength, ya? Can't you just tell me what the bloody Hell's going on around here?"

"Fine, but I'll blame you for it if you don't let me go afterwards", said the creature with a sulk.

That gave him time to stand back up, and take his position sitting down on a large stone. He looked on towards the ocean ahead of him, and as he opened his mouth, ready to speak, a blur appeared in his mind - that of the stone that the winged animal came out from. A cool breeze started to go through his armor at that point.

"I found that gem in my dimension, and I saw it as one of the rarest of beauties - a Thunder Stone. I wanted to use it to gain control of the Seventh Dimension, but... why the creature from it turned its back on me I had no idea."

He sighed as he spoke, with his eyes lowering back down towards the ground, where he saw the oceans starting to splash against the sand. That caused some of the others to look at his lowering face, and it wasn't long until Tiko started approaching him lightly, leaving light footprints within the ground beneath him.

"You aren't the only one expecting results like that. I hope to do something similar with the use of this very island."

"You mean..." His eyes widened with fear. "Volcano Isle?"

He turned back towards the mountain-like structure above him. From there, a light silver stream started to trickle out from above it. It left a trail on the wall, and by the time it reached the ground, the remainder touched the sandy surface at the size of a dewdrop. They looked at it, before they faced each other once again.

"It's still a pleasure to meet you anyway", Tiko responded smiling. "I'm Tiko Cortex."

He drew out his outstretched hand, ready to expect a handshake from him. No sooner than that happened, the creature then looked down towards the drop down towards the ground. He then brought his head towards him, and gave out a light smile upon his own face. He then stood up, with the tip of his head reaching where Tiko's heart should be.

"Just call me N-Trance, the master of Hypnosis."

He brought out a claw-like hand, and took a tight grip of it around Tiko's hands, causing them to cripple slightly underneath them. That caused him to pull his hand away from him, leaving them standing a fair distance between them. This left the creature, being N-Trance, to stroke his head slightly, blinking at Tiko's direction and blushing slightly.

---

Meanwhile, back in the docks of the city itself, the winged animal made its soar down towards the boats, and zoomed past them in an instant flash, causing the sails to flap hard against the wind, some of which ending up with holes in it afterwards. It then brought itself into a loop-the-loop, before it started to fly slightly away from the urban scene.

"What is this strange world?"

He turned back in the direction of the city, with the moonlight starting to shine from right behind him. He then started to hover close towards the tallest building in the rebuilt-segment, looking over at them with anger starting to flow into his face. He felt the cold and hard substances surrounding them, which felt bitter to his tough, lowering his eyebrows even more.

"Why are all these strange structures here? This is so unlike the Yevron law!"

With a growl, he started to hover his way above them, until... his eyes were brought towards another building. He turned around and hovered lower, with his nose meeting another. He then tried to fly away from there, getting much lower, but saw another building. The cycle continued, with his face showing more stress than beforehand.

"Tell me that I'm not trapped!!!"

He soon remained still, with his wings flapping lighter than before, and he was seen hovering down towards the ground. The touch of his feet onto the pavement caused him to look down at the ground with disgust, before he started hovering high again, along the streets, and towards a sharp right turn into a heavily darkened back alley.

At the other side, the groups were seen making their way inside it. Crash stood ahead of the group, looking around the tall buildings that took form on both sides of the path, as well as a set of trash cans, each of them either standing upright or toppled over with their contents falling out. His focus remained there, until... a voice came from behind him.

"Duck Crash, DUCK!!!" Crunch shouted with a strain in his voice.

At the sound of his voice, his head was lifted up into the sky. Once there, he saw the blur of the shadowy figure's hair a bit lower from his view. That caused the creature to look down - he was only twenty meters away from him. Crash tried to jump out of the way... but he was shunted into a pile of trashcans, with the creature bringing its way further into the other side of the shadows. At the sight of it, Crunch started to growl and put his fists together.

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!!! You almost killed him, and most importantly you'd best WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING NEXT TI-"

As he spoke, he looked straight towards the creature, but... its eyes were seen quivering with fear. It started to back away, and it formed a barricade for itself by placing wooden blocks around it. It brought its head underneath, and all that can be seen is its eyes brought lower down and a shadowed tail waving about under there.

"Why are you looking at me with those puppy eyes?" Crunch questioned with his eyes soon facing the same expressions.

The cry of its voice caused it to start shaking upon its movements of its tail. This left them in silence for a few moments, looking at the creature, whom still refused to make his way out from there. Then, from the pack, Neo took a step forward and brought his hand out towards him.

"Calm down little fella', there's nothing to be afraid of!"

No sooner than he said that, the creature started to growl, and brought out its jaws towards him in an attempt to bite his fingers. But he brought them back just in time. His muzzle was shown with gray fur, with a patch of orange on the tip of it. It then brought its head back inside the darkness.

"So much for that", said Neo with a surprised look.

It wasn't long until he looked back down at his fingers, wondering what the case would have been like if his fingers really WERE bitten off. Then, he started advancing closer to it, with the others making lighter steps from behind him. The creature was shaking more frightened than ever.

"Leave me alone, all of you! I believe that all of you have defined Yevron's laws!"

"Yevron's laws...?", muttered Neo in the background.

"I hate to see a day when you go against the gods like that", panicked the creature. "With that, what are us wolarcoots meant to do?"

After the creature spoke his words, Neo looked down towards the ground, with a face showing confusion upon its words. He brought his hand to the back of his head, and started blinking over at his direction. But from behind him, Crash, whom managed to stand up from the push from earlier, looked on at him with a light blink.

"A wolarcoot?"

"I've seen some of those creatures back in our time", Spike exclaimed excitedly.

"You do?" Neo walked closer to him. "What are they like?"

"I dunno, they're all different. Some of the god-like ones either vanished or became deadly spirits, and some of the others have taken more of a human form, like you guys."

The thoughts of them started to come across their minds. But in Neo's especially, those showed the thoughts of what the creatures may have been like in the time travelers' time. His thoughts showed some of which as bloodthirsty creatures willing to take others' souls, and the others flying around, with a demon-like status on their bodies, even if they're still alive and well. His face turned white.

"Well, no matter what, I can sense that this one isn't going to be like that. Come out, please."

"I'm not coming out", the wolarcoot shouted with fear. "I've had enough bother with that pink egg on the island, and I don't want it again!"

After he said that line, Gary soon broke into a round of uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling across the ground like a pig. That caused some of the others to look at him, with their eyes leering down at him and his somewhat idiotic movements.

"A PINK EGG!!!" Gary blurted from his mouth. "That has gotta be the funniest thing I heard all day!"

He continued to laugh for a further few seconds, and that was until he finally realized that no one was laughing with him. With that in mind, he looked back at the others, whom were all seen looking at him with sympathetic looks upon their faces.

"Why aren't you laughing with me?"

They didn't respond to him. Instead, they were looking over at the creature, whom was seen shaking within his barricade. Then, with no frustration, his tail dropped down to the ground, and his eyes were sealed shut. In no time, the group pulled him out, and saw his fainted body in the dim moonlight.

-end of part 2-


	3. A Tense Reunion

AUTHOR'S NOTES

The third part in the story is here. And I thank everyone for reading it so far – I'm surprised on the turnout here. :D

Well, what happens next? Try and lead the group towards part three of the story, where the wolarcoot's memories – or lack of them – are revealed, and their manhunt for the "pink egg" that was N-Trance begins.

Another element of the Power Crisis set is shown here, and that needs a bit of explaining too. While his father's uncontrolled rampage swept the town, he ended up seeking for political power by trying to assassinate Jennifer Estrada, the mayoress of Panama City by that time. And after the events she felt content by doing everything to help the city, and eventually left the scene for a career in boy band management. Be sure to be on the lookout for her.

Mind, be sure to keep on enjoying this as much as I did the last two parts. Sorry if it's a bit long though.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

A few hours passed, and the sun started to pass over the rooftops of the city. Inside the penthouse, the pleasant morning was nothing compared to the atmosphere inside one of the bedrooms. The creature that they encountered earlier was seen in a nearby bed, with his arms spread out. He was seen with lengthy blonde hair, and his clothes showed a yellow and blue pattern. He also had a pair of turquoise wings on his back. Nearby, Neo, Gary, Spike, Zephyr and Chyna were seen surrounding him, with their eyes brought down to his peaceful expression on his face.

"Is he going to be alright?" questioned Neo with a twitch of his nose.

"Well, looking at his species and how they develop," said Spike as he came closer, "it'll be almost certain that he'll be fully charged in no time."

He looked back at his partner and gave out a light wink in his direction. Then, he turned back towards the "wolarcoot", and placed his hands lightly upon his chest. A shaking sensation started to soar through his hands, and it was there that he smiled down at it.

"Besides, I can sense a strange power within him. Feels like... thunder?"

At the sound of that remark, some of the others started to take a few steps back. The power of lightning can be enough to fry anyone into bits and - if they're feeble enough - kill them instantly. Spike turned around, and saw Zephyr already a meter or so behind him.

"But won't you get killed, man?"

"Chyna got doubt over death, but if power help then power help, ya?" she said with a smile.

With that remark, she walked her way up towards Spike, and gave him a light muzzle upon the neck. He started to smile back at it, and he was just about to respond back by stroking her back, when... a stir was felt at the foot of the bed. He turned back, and saw the creature's hand moving.

"I think you guys have done it", Gary almost screamed. "Quick, back in the main room!"

With that, he briskly tiptoed his way towards the door leading out of the room and opened it as careful as he could. Then, they started climbing out into the hallways one by one. As Gary left and shut the door behind him, the creature's eyes shot open like blinds on a sunny day.

---

Back in the main room, some of the others were already seen around the furniture with either toast on their laps or cups of hot beverages in their hands. The door to the room was soon slammed open, and Neo stormed his way in first. At the sight of him, Snappy stood up and blinked at him.

"Dude, I hope you didn't poke your fingers into his nose!"

"We didn't", shouted Neo. "It's just that we wanted to take a closer look at him."

As he said that, the others came from behind him and stood there, trying to look innocent. While that happened, Snappy carefully walked his way towards Spike, and once he was two steps away from him he crouched down and looked straight into his eyes, showing his teeth in his mouth.

"You mean you and the walking dictionary...?"

"I have a name, thank you very much!!!" shouted the dingodino.

After saying that, he brought his hands out towards him and pushed him down to the ground like he was a ton of bricks. That caused some of the others to snicker at him, before he looked back at the others with a smile on his face. No sooner than the action happened, a shadow came from right behind them, stepping carefully towards them. They brought their focus straight towards them, and saw them looking straight towards the wolarcoot, in full glory.

"Take a look at that structure", muttered Brio.

"Yep", Crash said with a comical tone. "It makes me glad that I drink my coffee."

Crash started twitching his nose, and while that happened, Brio edged closer towards him with a twitch shown in his eye. That caused the bandicoot to look at him with a blank expression on him. Back with the wolarcoot, his face showed that of frustration and panic.

"You lot again? I thought you wanted to kill us all!"

"We won't", exclaimed Neo. "Just sit down, and we'll try and get through this."

As he said that, he went towards him and took a grip of him by the hand, before pulling him towards one of the sofas around the room. That left him occupying one of the ends, near where Beverley and Martha were sitting.

"I can't remember much of how I got here", said the wolarcoot. "I remember waking up, and I saw myself coming out of some golden stone. I have no idea where it came from...!"

After saying that, he placed his hand on his head, and started to whimper. He brought it down to the ground, and his tail started to shake as stiff as a board. This left Neo to sit down on his right, and strok him on his back.

"Can you remember how you got into the stone in the first place?"

Silence came between them both, and that left him to turn in his direction. He then looked down to the ground, with his eyes starting to glow with a color to reflect the light from the dawning sun. He then leaned back among the furniture, and raised his jaws to speak.

---

An image is shown of a world where creatures just like him cooperated in peace. Some of which had the same colors as him, while others had different structures altogether. Some of which displayed incredible powers from their paws, with others watching them.

"I remember living in a world that I can call "Yevron", and once there, I lived with several creatures like myself. At an early age, I seem to hold the powers of a God, even if I can't remember how they got there in the first place. Then, the planet was wiped out, and I couldn't remember anything else from there."

(scene fades back)

"Not even the golden stone that trapped me in the first place", the creature finished with a shaky tone.

He then lowered his head so that his neck was no longer visible. As that happened, a small tear tried to escape from his eye, and it soon trickled its way down towards the sofa with ease. From nearby, Bev looked at him, and placed an arm around his shoulder in a reassuring grasp.

"Don't feel down, we'll still try and make sure you'll fit in here. Did you have a name?"

"They called me Sparctacus Sirius Saggitarius Severus Wolarcoot", he replied.

"That's a bit of a long name", said Beverley, rubbing her fingers down her neck. "How about we call you 'Sparky' for short?"

She looked at him with a blink. And he almost did the same. He thought long and hard about that name, and see how it could fit within the world that he was in. Then, for once in his time with the group, he responded with a light chuckle from his mouth.

"I guess that'll work, thanks."

This left them moving closer towards each other, knowing that something has been sorted out for the wolarcoot. He was about to open his mouth to speak again, but that was until Gary dashed his way towards the window and starred outside for several seconds.

"Uh, remember when you said that you got tortured by a 'Pink Egg'?"

"Aye?" questioned Sparky.

He and Bev both got up from their seats and came around him. The others then took their time to do the same thing, but that was until something came into view - the same shadow that came into view earlier, being the 'egg in a mech', with four others nearby.

"IT'S COMING RIGHT TOWARDS US!" blurted Gary at the top of his voice. "TAKE COVER!!!!!"

(scene changes to the shores)

At the sea area, we see N-Trance taking the lead in Tiko's speedboat. Despite the engines working properly, he seemed to show a slight bit of panic and used his arms as oars for no apparent reason whatsoever.

(scene changes back inside the flat)

Back with the others, they looked on at the shapes in the ocean view, coming closer towards them. This left some of the younnger ones to cower, especially Martha and Boron, whom were left hugging onto each other with support.

"For the love of wumpa fruit, what if they see us?", asked Crash with strain on his voice.

"Don't panic about it", said Crunch with confidence. "Quick, hide underneath here!"

He pointed towards a sofa, and turned it on its side, allowing some of the smaller ones to take cover inside it. Meanwhile, that left him and Zephyr to look around, and crawl underneath a dining table in the far corner.

(scene changes back to the seas)

Back in the ocean view, the girls stepped towards the front of the boat, looking out to the view of the city ahead of them. It wasn't long until Deksta's eyes were lowered, and she brought out one of her hands, pointing towards the rebuilt side.

"I can sense something from the rebuilt side of the city, sirs!"

Her shout attracted some of the others' attention, causing them to look up at her, and at some intervals walk up towards her. To Tiko's eyes, barely anything can be made clearer than the docks of the settlement.

"I don't think I can sense it yet, but I can tell that something bad will come of this, no doubt about it."

His remark caused him to turn back towards the others, whom all had more curious expressions brought upon their faces. Then, he made his walk towards the center of the boat, and smiled towards the rest of the crew.

"Down the Western alleys, now!"

At the request, Lio took a stride towards a lever near the motor engines at the back. As soon as they were 50 metres from the dock, he pulled it, and the boat was suddenly sent into the air like it landed on a spring board. In the air, it drew out a pair of wheels and landed on the ground perfectly before speeding down the path.

(scene changes back to the pent house)

Back with the others, they still remained in their hiding places waiting for the fivesome to pass. It wasn't long until Spike poked his head out from the upturned sofa, and crawled his way towards the windowsill. From his view, they were coming closer to him.

"I think he's spotted us! They're coming closer towards our window!"

"Spike, get down quick", shouted Neo from behind.

At that remark, he rushed towards him and pulled him down towards the ground, before taking him back towards the sofa. But once he got back, he noticed one minor thing - Sparky was gone. He turned back, and saw him hovering near a chandelier.

"Sparctacus, what do you think you're doing?"

He didn't respond back to him. Instead, he was glowing a bright gold color, and it wasn't long until he pushed the window panels open and hovered his way towards the outside skies. This left some of the others behind the sofa to look down, disappointed with his moves.

"It's too late, he's already gone", said Brio with disappointment.

As he said that, he brought his head that far down his sombrero obstructed his view from his face. That left some of the others to come near him and pat him on the back, trying to calm him down slightly. In the background, Boron couldn't help but give out a light howl.

(scene switches back to the streets)

Outside the scene, Sparky was seen flying his way up towards Tiko and the group coming close. In an instant shock, he brought his hands together and formed a bright cackle of energy in between them. He thrusted it out down towards them, causing the boat to capsize and send them rolling down the path towards the ruined part of the city.

(scene switches to the penthouse)

The view of the flash of lightning came into view from the window, causing both Crunch and Zephyr to gasp at the sight from underneath the table. Then, it soon faded out, and silence came through their ears. It was soon broken as soon as Bev brought her way out from behind the sofa, and brought her head out the window.

"Sparky! Sparkeeeeee! ANSWER ME NOW!!!"

Her calls formed an echo around the scene surrounding her. She soon had an urge to climb out of the window herself, but it wasn't long until Sparky's body came back into view. He came to a hover right in front of her, with his feet being half a metre from the ground.

"Tell me", shouted Bev. "Exactly WHAT was THAT in aid of?"

"Just trying to keep your paws away from that stubborn old goat, that's a-"

Before he could finish, she spoke again with a face filled with impatience. "Never mind about that, what's with that surge of lightning that just occurred?"

That left them both in silence. Sparky's eyes were soon widened with a slight bit of shock, and then, over the few seconds of time that passed, he started to hover his way through the window, and land on the floor as gently as a parachute jumper. As soon as he landed on the ground, his eyes started to quiver. He then brought himself down onto the upturned sofa, with his face lowered down towards his lap. Then, he looked back up at Bev, with the pupils of his eyes looking much more enlarged.

"Why... why are you looking at me like that?"

He blinked over at her, and then he jumped back down towards her level. Then, he brought his hands out ahead of him, covered in grey fur and a set of dark claws on him. He gave out a sigh of them, and placed them behind his back, with his face showing a slight bit of confusion.

"I already told you, I just know they're there, not how they ever got there."

He made his walk over to the dining table, where Crunch and Zephyr climbed out together. Once there, he hovered up towards the edge, and sat down with his legs crossed. No sooner than he was there, Bev rushed to him, and once with him, she took a tight grip of his collar and brought his face closer to hers.

"You didn't tell me that you know how to use offensive attacks like THAT!"

"You do now, okay?"

That remark caused him to push her away and bring her to fall towards the fireplace, covering her back and hair with soot. She soon stood up, and rubbed her back from her fall. Meanwhile, Neo made his way over the sofa, and brought a smile towards the wolarcoot's direction.

"But that was incredible", he exclaimed. "Even if you're clueless on some of this, maybe we can still help you on recovering your memory."

He brought his hand towards him, and brought himself into a light grasp around Sparky's neck. That caused him to look back at him with a smile. But back with Bev, she managed to stand upright, but her face was starting to show a slight bit of stress across her mouth.

"But that's three things we have to sort out here now - you and your threats from the future, a "pink egg" trying to storm this joint, and a puppy that can barely remember what he ate for breakfast!" she shouted as she held onto her hair with frustration.

"It's okay Bev", said Neo calmly. "I know this may seem to be a bit rough, but we'll track everything down together, starting with that strange creature."

Without seconds thoughts, she took hold of her by the hand, and this left them both running out of the door of the penthouse into the open air. It wasn't long until the others soon started to run with them, leaving footprints in the rough tarmac ahead of them.

---

Back with Tiko and the others, they were zooming past a cobbled street in the ruined part of the city, and a warehouse-like structure came into view. The boat-car started to slow down, and it brought itself into a sliding brake, before they jumped out together. But little did they realised... that there was a shadow standing outside the main doors.

"STOP! ALL OF YOU!" it shouted.

The shout caused them all to take a step back a bit. Then, the figure made its way - or rather, her way - out from the darkness. She showed herself as a figure with a short blue skirt, a purple-yellow sparkling t-shirt, a pair of black shoes, long orange-brown hair and brown eyes. She started to snicker over at them.

"I've seen you guys raiding the depths of Volcano Isle, and I don't want you spreading your filthy magic around here!"

"Goodness, miss", said Tiko with a humorous tone in his voice. "I never touched a thing! So why point the finger at us?"

She edged her way closer towards him, with her sharp nails being brought into the light. It wasn't long until she soon brought her head right against her foe's. She snarled in his face, before she started to blurt words from out of her mouth again.

"Never mind about that, I demand you quickly leave the town before you cause any damage. I bet it was that that caused you to try and blow up this town years ago, right?"

She then brought her hands out forward, and pushed him down towards the ground. That caused the others to surround him and lift him up by his shoulders. He soon leered back at her, with his tail curling itself into a small ball at frequent intervals.

"Awww please, why put the pity on such a feeble man like myself? Don't you know that females aren't likely to do that?"

"I can do whatever I please, thank you!" she shouted back.

They started to circle each other upon saying that. As that happened, Neo and the others came into the background by roaming through the shadows. They brought their heads over a wooden fence nearby, and saw them edging closer towards each other. He looked at Tiko and his crew, and had eyes widened at them - the four siblings he once knew and loved, then became responsible for the city's damage years ago. He was that close to a scowl towards them... until he saw the girl - surely he had seen her before somewhere...?

"Never mind that, you're going down!" cried Tiko.

With a scowl on his face, he rooted inside his pockets, and drew out a pistol. He threw it around like a majorette stick for two seconds, before he sent it out in front of him, pulling the trigger. A bullet came out, heading straight towards her heart. It seemed she had no room to move. From the background, Neo gave out a gasp of panic.

"Pete's sake!!!" he yelled.

Within one sudden movement, he brought his hands firmly onto the fence, and climbed over, before he started sprinting his way over to her. Just as when the bullet was about to touch her he pushed her out of the way, only to risk one sole thing only - his own life.

(scene fades to white)

"Come on up, Neo! I know you're alert!"

From the blur of both his eyes, they soon brought themselves wide open, and right in front of him, a view of Martha can be seen, standing over him. He looked to his sides, and saw himself inside a dark part of a building. This left him to look a bit confused at the surroundings.

"Whoa...! What happened here?"

"Can't you remember?" questioned Martha with a squeak. "You risked your life for someone else's. See?"

She smiled over at him, and took a hold of his left hand before lifting him up into the air. Then, he soon stood upright, and once there he started dusting off himself carefully. He looked towards her, and gave out a light smile. But then... something struck him, turning his face white.

"What about the bullet? Did it strike me?"

That caused her eyes to widen slightly, and she ran around his back, looking at the stains around his coat for any traces of any shot near him. Then, something caught her eye. She looked down with a bit of distress into her eyes and walked back around to his level.

"Sorry to have to tell you this, but take a look for yourself."

She pointed over at his left sleeve, and that was where he brought his focus to there himself. He raised it higher into the air, and that was where he saw something right in front of him - a hole pierced right inside it. He started to shake upon the sight of it.

"Now I know what a cardboard target feels like..."

Before he could say anything else, he quickly brought the arm back down to his side, trying to hide the hole caused. Then, from nearby, the girl came towards him, and started to smile at him. She brought out one of her hands, covered in purple nail varnish, and smiled at him.

"It's okay about what you did. Thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome, and..." He paused. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Remember me, Jenny?" the girl spoke with a smile.

Neo brought himself into a long series of thoughts. Jenny? There was one time when he recalled a "Jenny" and that was when his long-lost father attacked her for the mayorship. His thoughts came to a stop, and the charms of the young former mayoress was brought back into his face.

"You mean... Jenny Estrada? But I thought you're off running tours for pop music bands!"

"Actually, I decided to take a bit of a vacation here. I never realised that being a tour manager would ensure you to work from 5AM to 11PM with only Sunday afternoon free", she replied with despair.

She looked down, with her long hair starting to go over her eyes. Then, she gave out a light blink, before she turned back towards her "saviour". That caused him to hold onto her shoulders from behind, and that was where she gave out a light smile from her mouth.

"Awww, how sweet", smiled Beverley. "If only if she still spent her time as the Mayoress, then we could end up being filthy rich by now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" yelled Jenny.

She brought herself forward, accidentally causing Neo to lose his balance and fall stomach first into the ground. Then, she brought her face right up to Bev's, whom started to blush and step back towards the others, trying to hide her expressions covering her face. While that happened, Neo brought himself up onto both feet, and dusted himself. Then, he turned towards the others, and looked at them one by one. Most of which were pleased with the entrance of Jenny by their side. Speaking of whom, she walked her way towards him with grace.

"So, now that we cleared that up, is there any way that I can pay you back?"

She gave a wink towards him, which soon caused his face to start blushing. Then, holding his head together, he looked up towards the wall up above him. The room was spacious, and tall, yet there barely seemed to be any sign of light other than those from dim lights on the ceiling.

"By the looks of these walls", said Neo as he pointed at them, "then I guess that we should try and break out as soon as we can."

"But how?" cried Jenny with a squeal. "I'm worried that there could be another guard like Tiko back there. He showed up a good fight to be honest."

"I know how it feels like", he responded back. "He and the rest of my siblings tried to drown me when I was younger, all because they thought I was a downfall to our cheap lives."

As he tried to place his arm on her shoulders she looked down again, with her hands on her chin, worried about what will come of the escape. Some of the others were to face the same expressions, but that was until Boron brought his nose behind them, and started barking over at them, bouncing up and down like a pogo stick.

"What is it boy?" questioned Neo at him.

He ran towards the wolverine, whom climbed onto his back into a piggy back formation and pointed right ahead of his view. Right there, what looked like a grater was seen right ahead of him. That caused him to look at it with a great deal of silence over his face.

"A ventilation shaft...?"

"Never mind what the heck it is", shouted Sara. "We gotta use it!"

As she said that, she ran towards the shaft, and climbed her way up the walls, before pulling it off by the handles as furiously as she could. Then, she tossed the grater down towards the ground with a clank, and looked down at the others from her position, with a face of impatience upon her.

"Quick, everyone get through one at a time!"

She climbed inside it fully, and then, everyone else soon followed their cue. Crunch was the first to get there, but he stood still, allowing the smaller ones to climb up to it, before everyone else made their way in mormally. Once inside, a long and winding road came ahead of them. They weren't too far, until the sound of wimpering came from behind them.

"Hold it!" screamed Sara again.

The others soon came to an abrupt stop, causing them to look right behind them. And it was there when they saw Sparky, starting to look a bit afraid at his position. His limbs were starting to shake like ready-made jelly on a silver platter. That caused Sara to look at him with annoyance.

"Now what?"

"I think I can sense a strange force from down below...?" said the wolarcoot with lack of confidence.

He looked down at his view, and saw another grater, similar to the one they passed on the way in, but placed in a horizontal position. At the sight of it, Snappy placed his hand over his eyes, and growled over at his direction before crawling straight over to him.

"Oh puh-lease, it's only the tiles leading to the floor beneath us!"

"Not that", yelled Sparky. "It's something else!"

He looked down, and brought his head much closer towards the gutters, bringing his eyesight through the view nearby. But then, something started to shake beneath him, and that was where his grip upon the surface started to become unstable. He wasn't the only one that noticed it - Boron's limbs were also starting to shake at it.

"Uh-oh...!"

"Man the lifeboats, NOW!!!" bellowed Gary.

That shout caused the others to take a grip of a bar on the side of the shaft, trying to hold on. But then... the floor started to give in too soon, causing them to lose their balance, and hold onto there with a tight grip around there. That caused them to squeal, before... they had no choice but to drop down. They landed on the floor, some of the smaller ones ending up in a crumpled heap. The thud attracted the attention of someone in the darkness. It came into the light, and showed herself as Hallie, with a whip held in her hand.

"Oh, look what the cat's brought in", she said, striding closer to them.

"Hallie?" Neo gasped. "Wait a minute... what are YOU doing here?"

She gave out a light smirk from her mouth, before she leapt up into the air, performed a somersault and landed on top of a turned-over machine near the middle of the room. She crouched down, and brought her eyes over to his level.

"Isn't it obvious? While you were gone stalking around this country like nobody's business," she said while twitching her eyebrows from side to side, "we've at least tried to make ourselves useful with the equipment we have here at this side of the city."

She brought her focus near the ceiling, where bright red and green strobe lights flashed every second. They reflected in the others' eyes, with some of which looking down at the nearby machines on the sides of the room.

"Those machines", muttered Gary with awe. "What on Earth are they?"

"I dunno, but I'm telling you now, they look pretty nasty" replied Neo.

"Well, that's from someone who's read the script as clear as he could get", said Hallie with sarcasm.

That caused Neo to fall onto the ground with an anime sweat drop on his face, and got up again a few seconds later. This left the others to look on at them - barely any distinguishable buttons and levers can be seen on them, and their monitors were blank.

"I still don't understand what you need those things for" whispered Neo, "but if you let us go, then we won't wreck them, okay?"

The call attracted her attention, causing her to swing her face back towards Neo's direction, with her long pigtails roaming across her spine. She thought about the offer for a few seconds, before something came out from her mouth.

"Oh really? What's the catch?"

"If you refuse the offer," he replied in a darker tone, "then neither side will benefit from this."

He took a step forward, and looked on across the room. The machines on the left, Hallie in the center, the machines on the right, and the strobe lights on the ceiling didn't show that much of a friendly presence. He stood, awaiting for his answer, until Bev came nearby and looked at him.

"I don't think that's a good ide-"

He brought a hand over her mouth, stopping her from speaking further. Then, his focus were brought back and forth between Hallie and a struggling Bev in his grasp. Then, the blonde girl stood up and limpened her arms down as far as they could go.

"So, if that's what you want, how about we settle this now?"

She tightened the grip on her hands even more than before. At the same time, Neo took a step forward. He looked behind him, and saw Sara, Boron, Jenny and Zephyr making their way towards him. He smiled at them, before he turned back to her. To him, there seemed to be one thing stopping him from getting out.

---

A cold draft blew within the room, causing their hair to blow within it. As that happened, Hallie took a stride towards the group, with her arms down the side and her eyebrows squinting down. She gave out a light smile from her mouth.

"Never thought I'd see you five together at this day. Well prepare to meet your quick demise!"

With that, she drew her whip back and thrusted it out towards the group, whom all split up into several different directions. As Neo, Boron and Sara reached the left hand side and Jenny and Zephyr reached the right, the others took steps back from her and stayed underneath the air vent.

"You're pretty good", said Hallie with a laugh, "but not good enough!"

She started to cackle again, before she sent another attack towards their direction. This left them to jump at the sight of it, before allowing them room to charge into her. But she soon deflected her attacks, causing a light scratch to come across Zephyr's coat.

"Whoa!" Neo shouted with surprise. "What is with this girl?"

"Neo!" Sara called out from nearby. "I don't think our attacks are working if we tackle her head on! Try round the back!"

She pointed around her and to her unprotected back. This left them to start making their way around there, but she kept on turning around and keeping her guard. But that was until Sara jumped up into the air and went right over her.

"You think too quick, Foster bitch!" cursed Hallie with a scowl. "Stay away!"

She turned in her direction, and sent a slash of her whip towards her hair, soon causing her to roll underneath it. She continued to make her way towards her... but that was until Boron sneaked his way behind him and tried to scratch her on the neck.

"That includes you, you mingin' mutt", she growled.

She turned towards him, and ended up putting her fingers around his neck... but he soon responded by biting her hands, causing her to scream and run from him, whom was seen trying to get his way towards her heels.

"Now you've asked for it!" cried Neo. "Go get her!"

No sooner than he said that, the wolverine was left laughing as he came closer towards her. At the same time, Jenny jumped out of the way, and saw the chase starting to occur in a clockwise direction. She started to giggle at the sight of it.

"That's it! Keep it going!"

With a grin on her face, she continued to view the scenario from her eyes, where Boron was only half an inch from her heels. He then brought both paws forward, and tripped her over with ease. He then climbed his way on top of her and pulled a raspberry out in front of her. But that was until... the back started to shake.

"Boron, look out!" yelled Jenny as she pointed at his direction.

The shake then sent him rolling down the back, and ending up looking at Hallie, whom was approaching him with redder eyes than before. He tried to back away, but she swiped herself forward at twice his running speed, before bringing her hands out forward. He tried to run from her, but... he was caught by his hind legs and sent hanging in the air, screaming for help. He looked on at the others, and then at Hallie, both of which showing totally different emotions at this time. He gave out a light whimper.

"Boron, try and wiggle free!" Jenny suggested.

He tried to shake himself out from her grasp, mainly on the paws, but... all that's basically happened to him is having his body moving up and down like an accordion. He squealed, before he tried again several times more, but... no progress was made.

"It's no use," cried Jenny as the pulls became even harder. "We gotta get him back before anything bad happens!"

"I got an idea!" hooted Neo with a wink.

He jumped out from the shadows, and looked over at Jenny, whom made her way deeper within the crowd of the others. That left him to run his way towards her, with his hands out in a threatening pose.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

She turned over towards him, and with that, she tried to swipe one of her hands towards him. That left them in a chase for a while, with Boron's limpening body being sent through the breeze created... until he reached for Neo's right hand and took a tight grip in there. Over time, Gary came on the scene and took him by the other hand.

"I got you! Hold onto him as tight as you can!"

With that, Neo gave out an abrupt nod, and this left them taking several steps back as they tried to pull him out from Hallie's grasp. The very pulling caused a face full of pain to be shown on Boron's face.

"Don't cry!" exclaimed Neo with a sympathetic look on his face. "We'll get you out of there!"

"What makes you say that?" Hallie responded back with a cold tone.

She snarled over at them, and released one hand to take out her whip. She then cracked it towards a nearby machine, where a nearby wall was turned over, showing a hidden tunnel down it. This left her cackling at the sight.

"This can't be good", whispered Crunch in the background.

With another tug, she pulled Neo and Gary towards the door, and stepping to the side so far she ended up making them have their backs towards the door. This left them looking behind into the cold draft in the corridor, with a slight bit of fear on their faces.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Crash brawled.

She then sent her whip out even further, bringing them towards the pair of them, and as that happened she pushed Neo down into the tunnel, and then came Gary. She then triggered the door to close, but before she could make it in... Gary ran out and pulled Boron out of her grasp as she ran.

"So, you may have won that battle," snickered Hallie with her arms folded, "but be sure for one thing - the war isn't over just yet."

With a smirk, she jumped behind the machine, and ran her way towards the corridor. The wall closed behind her with an echoing thud. That left Bev to scream, run out from the shadows, and pound on the machine holding the switch... but nothing happened.

"COME BACK OVER HERE, YOU... You... SUCCUMBUS!!!"

She continued to slam against the buttons, and again... nothing has happened. Over time her thrashing started to get lighter, and lighter, until all she could do was crouch on her knees and look on at the wall nearby with tears.

"It's okay Bev, calm down" said Gary softly as he came towards her. "He won't be gone far."

She looked over at Gary, whom made his way from his escape from the door. He then went down to her level, and placed his arm around her shoulder, allowing eye contact to come right between them. She still looked hopeless.

"Sure, I'd be more than confident that he'd be able to make his way out of that place", spoke Brio with confidence. "No doubt about it."

As he said that, he made his way out into the open, and brought his sombrero up, so that his fringe was visible. He gave out a light smile of confidence, before looking over at Gary, whom had a curious look on his two lips.

"I still don't understand what they wanted with Volcano Isle."

"Neither do I," whispered Crash, "but knowing, the full story could do with a bit of an explanation if only if we knew earlier."

He too made his walk towards the door, and brought his hands onto the wall. Somehow, he thought that one of the set three tasks could be under peril. Several thoughts of what could be happening to Neo at this moment in time went through his mind.

"Look, maybe some of you should stay behind" said Snappy in a deeper tone than before. "The rest of us will try and snoop around the city for any means of help on getting him out."

He started to walk out from the front door, with most of the others following him. But this left behind Bev, Gary, Sara, Crash and Chyna near the door. He looked over at them, with a light twitch of a smile on his face.

"One last thing - I wish you guys the best of luck on your guard."

"Thanks Snappy", muttered Sara. "We won't fail you."

He gave in the thumbs up, before Crunch managed to punch a hole in the wall, showing a bright spec of sunlight brought into their eyes. This left them to walk out together. Several questions roam through their mind now, including what's happening to Neo, how to get him out, and whether Hallie has faced a twisted ankle upon fighting or not.

-end of part 3-


	4. My Brother, the Hostage

-AUTHOR NOTES-

Part four is coming, and it's in this part when the main objectives for the cast is to free Cortex from the clutches of N-Trance. A bit stereotypical, I may admit, but we'll see as the part advances.

There's also a light Power Crisis reference shown here too, and that's in the form of the next character – Lozzy Pineapple. In the second of the set, established eight years before this very fanfic, she was shown as a tourist from London who got captured by the Navy while on holiday in Hawaii. And you can tell that Cortex would have been on hand to save her… and Martha being on hand to sound more annoying than the usual. :P

Have fun, and be sure to smirk at the odd Final Fantasy reference in the middle.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

A darkened room opens up for the next scene, where in one dimly lit corner, Neo is seen tied by roughly a mile of twine around his body and limbs. He struggled to bring himself free, until... a slammed door was heard ahead of him.

"Who goes there?" he cried out.

He stopped wriggling, and brought his focus to a pair of green eyes in the darkness. That caused him to leer on at it, before the figure from the darkness made its way forward. It showed itself as the "pink egg" he described earlier - N-Trance.

"Ah, I'd never thought I'd see you around here. You were quite a man in your elder adulthood."

"Never mind that", Neo shouted back. "Why have you brought me here?"

He growled over at him, and tried to bite his armor from his position, but he couldn't reach. That soon left N-Trance to turn to his left, and look on at an opening near a roof, shining a light burst of sunlight into his face.

"Seriously, why do you want to spend your life traveling around with rogues like that alligator and wolverine of yours?"

The thoughts of Snappy and Boron, as well as the forgotten Brio, sprung to his mind. To him, they were the only ones in the world he could turn to before arriving back in the city. While that happened, N-Trance turned back in his direction.

"Can't you just wish for a family again? Something that you were deprived from?"

"Raising one, yes", Neo began with a whisper. "Being forced back in with my siblings, NEVER!"

"Well, we'll see about that", N-Trance spoke with a cackle.

He stepped much closer to him, and took a grip onto his right arm. Then, he brought the "hand" only two inches away from Neo's face, before snarling at him. It then started to open up like a shell, where whatever's contained inside it will be brought to his eyes.

(scene fades to white and blurs to another location)

Meanwhile, back outside, most of the others were already 80 metres away from the factory entrance, going deep within the streets of the city. Some of which showed confidence, but there was an exception for Martha, whom was far behind and eventually brought herself into an exhausted crouch.

"I'm tired, I'm thirsty and my feet are swelling to the size of a troll's!"

"So are mine," shouted Spike, "but you don't see me complaining!"

He turned around, and saw Martha in her position. She was seen with her fingers spread out with a slight bit of pain on them. Then, she looked up and stood up slightly, trying to hold onto her knees as she did so.

"No, really, I'm being serious. We've been walking for what seemed like hours and we haven't gone anywhere!"

"That's what you get for not expecting anything within the first five minutes" replied Crunch. "Come here."

She edged a bit closer to Crunch, with her feet still struggling to move. Over time, he started moving to her, before he crouched down to her level. That caused her to take a hold of his shoulders and pull herself up onto him in a piggy back motion.

"Whew, thanks" said Martha grinning.

The brown bandicoot gave in a light smile towards her, before they started walking back towards the others. They weren't far, when they reached a junction branching out into several different paths.

"So, where exactly should we turn to from here?" questioned Brio with a twitch of his mouth.

He brought up his sombrero slightly, giving out a smile from underneath. From nearby, Snappy then stood next to him, and fiddled about in his torn trouser pockets before pulling out what looked like a street map of the city.

"Well, this could seem to be tricky. I heard about a nightclub near the docks, and maybe we could see what's going on down there."

"At THIS hour?!?" shouted Zephyr with shock. "You must be joking, man!"

"I'm not. There's bound to be someone preparing for tonight's club night."

He gave out a light grin to himself, but... most of the others brought their eyes to him with annoyance. That caused him to blink with shock, before turning back to the map.

"On the other hand, we could try Muscle Beach down at the other side of the docks. And looking at these empty streets, I bet that's where most of the city folk have gone for today."

"Sure, as long as you don't push me towards the surfing cats", muttered Crunch with a wink.

The alligator gave out a light cackle, and placed his arm on the top of Crunch's head, whom gave out a light smile from the action. Then, he released his grip and went to the front of the group.

"So, let's get this straight! Those in favor of the nightclub?"

He brought his eyes to everyone, and saw most of which not putting their hands up at all. That caused him to bring his eyes down into an irritated look.

"And those in favor of the beach?"

Most of the anthros placed their hands up, with bright smiles going across their faces. That left him to look at them with a slight bit of hesitance.

"Well, looks like that's settled. Come on, let's get going."

He brought his hand into a gesturing motion, causing the group to start heading their way down to the beach. From further behind, Zephyr and Brio walked together, looking at the angry motions of the alligator himself.

"Is he always this stubborn?" questioned the blue fox.

"Nah. He's more like a prune for half the time."

Zephyr gave out a shrug upon hearing the comment. Then, they looked on ahead and started approaching the others at a brisk pace... but that was until a shadow suddenly eclipsed Zephyr's back.

"OH MY GOD! SEPHIROTH'S BEEN TURNED INTO A FOX!!!"

The shout caused his ears to prick up into the air. That caused him to quickly turn around, and see a figure in the shadows, crouching down, with a vile smile brought upon her face.

"Very funny" said Zephyr in an undertone.

She brought her hands inside her pant pockets, and from there... she ended up pulling out a long sword from out of nowhere. She started to grin down at him, before she started climbing her way down.

"What, no! What are you doing? Stay away from me!!!" he shouted with panic.

That left them in a chase in an anti-clockwise direction around the part of the road. She kept on slashing as hard as she could to him, but... the best it could do was carve off some of his fur off his tail.

"What the Hell is that all about?" asked Snappy with a blink.

"Beats me", said Martha in a breezy tone, "but we'll find out. And...!" She paused. "Wait a minute, I think I can recognise her from somewhere!"

She pointed over at her, whom was showing herself more into the light. Her clothing seemed to show that typical for an RPG female - a long cloak, a short skirt, a tanktop, large boots, and a medallion around her neck. She brought out her hands - covered in dragon skin gloves - and tried to grab him by the shoulders.

"What are you doing?" He shouted back. "Hands off the coat - it's 100% Polyester!!!"

He retaliated by a dive to the right, causing him to roll out of the way. But... as he did that, he knocked himself into a wall, letting himself get cornered between there and the girl. She showed her face, revealing long brown hair, and eyes of the same color.

"Finally, I'd be able to tackle a scenario like Cloud Strife will never attempt! Now... OMNISLASH!!!"

She brought out her sword, and was about to swipe it over in Zephyr's direction, whom seemed to know that there could be no chance of escaping from her grasp. But that was until he noticed Snappy charging towards her.

"HOLD IT!!!"

He rushed his way towards the pair of them, and then he brought both of his hands out in front of him, before pushing her out of the way, giving room for Zephyr to stand up and make his way to the others. That left the girl leering at them with anger. She tried to fight her way out from his grasp, but... it wasn't until Martha came around and saw what was going on. That left them to look at each other with curious looks on each other. Back with Zephyr and Snappy, they looked back at the brown haired stranger, before turning back to themselves.

"Do you know who in heck Sephiroth is, Zephie?"

"You'll find that out come '97", Zephyr spoke back with a wink.

A shadowed position were brought over the crew, as the sun started to head its way towards the West as gradual as it could. While that happened, Martha was seen making her way closer towards the brown haired stranger, with a smile on her face.

"Are you okay?"

She placed her hand on her hair, which seemed silky to the touch. That caused her head to be lifted up into the air, before she turned in her direction, with a quivering expression brought onto her own two lips.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" the girl said.

"Lozzy, you gotta remember me!"

She went to the other side, and started stroking her on the back, soon causing her to stand up. That caused her to look on at her and her ginger-based looks on her face. At the sight of which, she folded her arms and scowled.

"If you were that little preschool prat for a love for pink bicycles from an excursion to Hawaii eight years ago," Lozzy responded with a growl, "then I'm gonna chew my genji gloves!"

She sighed with a slight bit of arrogance, before she walked her way far from the group and towards one of the houses nearby. That left some of them to view her with curious expressions, especially Snappy, as he came up to her in light fairy steps.

"Who the Heck are you?"

"Sorry if I didn't have the guts to introduce myself earlier. The name's Lozzy Pineapple."

She turned her head slightly towards Snappy's direction, whom gave back a Hillybilly wave in her direction. Then, her eyes were brought towards Zephyr, whom was seen giving a light smile at her... but her scowl worsened at the glance.

"What kind of relationship do you have against Zephyr anyway?" asked Crunch with a confused look on his face.

"That's what I wanna know", Lozzy replied back. "But mark my words - may Sephiroth rot in Heck for all I care! Kefka's a much better spirit than I am!"

She gave out an angry sigh, before she made her way towards the other side of the road, with her head brought in the direction of the shores nearby. Her clothes started to blow in the light wind as that happened. In the meantime, Snappy turned back to Zephyr, looking confused.

"What's she on about?"

"I think you need to wait a few more years til you find out", Zephyr answered with yet another wink.

The alligator then looked at him with a "fair enough" look on his face. Then, that caused the blue fox to make his way towards Lozzy, and place one of his hands onto her shoulder, with a more sympathetic look upon his face.

"Look, I'm sorry if I suddenly had to end up coming near you, but I couldn't help that."

"It could be easier if you dyed your hair pink", she responded with a growl.

She then walked further away from him, before ending up that far in front she ended up with the view of the factory right ahead of her. At the sight of it, she started to gasp at the structure, before some of the others came near her.

"Ahem", Snappy coughed abruptly. "Enough about that, maybe your strength could help us fish out a friend of ours in here."

"A friend?" she responded in a slight bit of shock.

"Yeah, Neo's trapped in there!" cried Martha. "We needed a bit of help to get him out!"

That shout caused her to turn her way towards her, before she started walking her way towards Martha. A memory of her excursion to Hawaii came back to her, one of her using a cell phone to summon an airship to prevent a danger coming to Volcano Isle. She then brought herself back to reality, before looking back at the young girl.

"I remember that name, and he seemed to be a bit of a help to me, so... I'll call it a truce." She smiled at her, before turning back to Zephyr. "And don't expect it to last for long."

All that the blue fox could do was respond with several blinks all at one do, with his nose twitching with a slight bit of fear. Then, all that they thought of now was looking over at the factory and its dangerous structures all around it.

"So how exactly do we get in?" asked Brio.

This left them in silence for a while, before she brought out a hand of hers, and pointed towards a rusty window near the left. That caused them to start making their run towards there as fast as their legs could take them.

---

Back with N-Trance, he was seen with his arm out towards Neo, whom seemed to be starring into it, giving off blinks every few seconds. Right in front of him, the view of N-Trance's open arm can be seen, showing the shape of a clock embedded inside it.

"Come on", shouted the egg-creature. "You will be on your brother's side for as far as I will know!"

"No I will not!" said Neo with sarcasm.

After he spoke that line, he gave out a wink and pulled out his tongue for a mere half a second. That caused the egg-creature to growl and look at his arm, before hitting it furiously enough for a clank to occur within the armor.

"Jesus Christ, what's wrong with this stupid thing?"

He looked at the watch himself, and tried messing with the dial on it. But... still nothing happened. Growling, he turned his way towards a door to the right, where Tiko and the others walked in. With no second thoughts he ran his way towards him.

"TIKO!!!! What's the meaning of this?"

"I think you need a bit more power before it could work with this kid" he spoke quietly. "Maybe we should try someone else next time."

He then folded his arms, and looked on at his "companion". However, he didn't seem to take in a single word. He then looked over at his clock on his arm, and started bashing it, before a bright light started to emerge from there. He gasped at it, and quickly turned back to Tiko at the glance.

"Never mind that! We need somewhere to earn more power than originally intended! With that I could enslave more than just that little brat!"

He started cackling over at himself, before he started walking his way near the back of the room, grinning like a cow on a good day. This left Neo to leer at him from his position, and lucky for him... he wasn't the only one - the two sisters were doing exactly the same thing.

"You really need to sort out your priorities", whispered Hallie with a wink.

Deksta nodded with agreement. But then... N-Trance turned towards the girls' direction, and the next thing he saw were them facing opposite directions and whistling out of tune. He blinked at them with a curious expression... before something started to shake up ahead.

"What on Earth...?" Deksta whispered with panic.

The shuffle caused her to run towards the wall, with a slight bit of anxiety quivering within her lips. Once there, she placed her ear very close to it, and heard a bunch of footsteps, coming closer. And closer. And closer. That caused her to scream, before... the wall suddenly pushed itself over like a domino, forming a square gap and allowing a bunch of rocks to fall on top of Deksta. From the gap, Snappy and the others made their way in. Once they all settled in, Deksta crawled her way out looking like a cross between a pancake and a cockroach.

"How..." Tiko paused. "How the heck did you guys break in here?"

"Never mind that", Snappy shouted back. "Let's get to work in bringing Bev and them lot here!"

He pointed over to a smaller door nearby, and that caused Jenny to run her way towards it and take a hold of the handle, before... pulling it off. Then, from there, a wall turned around, revealing Bev, Gary, Crash, Chyna and Sara behind it. That caused Tiko to squeal at them as they climbed in.

"Don't stand there Trancy! Let's get them!"

He looked over at N-Trance, who was standing to his left by the time. But then... he suddenly turned around and made his way back towards Neo in his position. That left Tiko to give out a long sigh, before looking scowling at his direction.

"Fine, leave me alone why don't you?"

He gave out another sigh, before turning back towards the others. At that time, they were already arranged into several lines, with the smallest ones near the front. Tiko edged closer, and it was there when Martha took a hug onto Boron for protection.

"So I take you're all here to get your little friend back, eh?" Tiko shouted back. "But rest assured, the pain that we're willing to offer him will be far more than just sweet revenge."

"Tell me", shouted Beverley with a strain in her throat. "Why are you doing this to him?"

All that Tiko could do was turn his back on her, twitch his tail, and bring his hands up towards his forehead with a vile smirk on his face, as well as his eyes closed. He then started walking a few blind steps away from them, with each pace getting louder and louder.

"Like I said, he needs to belong in the family to survive! And hanging around with scrawny brats like you will not do the job!"

"You're not speaking the truth!" shouted Gary. "And besides, that's just cruelty!"

That cry caused him to turn around and face Gary, with his eyes shot open with rage. Without second thought, he rooted inside his pockets, and pulled out a pistol. Then, he started edging closer towards them, hoping to unleash the bullets inside it straight to their heads...

"Tiko, I've done it!"

The shout caused him to turn back in N-Trance's direction, where his watch was glowing a bright white. He then used the other arm to free Neo from the ropes, and from there, he started hovering in the air, in a standing position, with his feet two inches from the ground. A white mist surrounded him, and the pupils from his eyes were almost gone. A cold draft started to go across the room, leaving some of the others shaking at his presence.

"Guys, I think we need to prepare for our worst nightmare", uttered Crash with fear.

It was almost too soon, when Neo started hovering his way towards them at twice his usual running speed, with his posture being similar to a dolphin's. This left the group to roll out of the way, before he started coming back towards them. This left some of the girls into a scream.

"DUCK!" Beverley shouted at the top of her voice.

With that shout, she brought herself down onto the ground with her limbs spread out like a spider. Most of the others faced the same cue... all but Snappy, whom stood there, scratching his neck and blinking with a slight amount of confusing looks upon his jaws.

"Where?"

Before anything else could happen, his eyes soon met with Neo's feet, which soon sent him down to the ground like an action figure. That left him looking up to the ceiling up above, before Crash came and brought his face over his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I guess, thanks...!" replied the alligator.

Smiling, he took a hold of his arm, and pulled him up as quick as he could, before the sound of a hover can be heard from further behind. They turned around again, and saw Neo performing a back flip, before heading back at them.

"He's coming back towards us!" shouted Crash. "Quick, try to the right!"

They soon followed his orders as brisk as they can, moving over to their right and taking hiding behind a set of circular non-functioning generators nearby. He went past them, almost catching Chyna by her tail, whom soon pulled it back in.

"Talk about close shave...!"

She then sighed with a bit of hope in her mouth. But that was until he came back, and without fear, he took a hold of her tail and pulled her out like a cola bottle from a packet of sweets. She was sent across the room like a water-skier, trying to pull her grip away from him.

"Hey, what Neo doing? Chyna no asking for fur cut off!"

"Hold on, Chyna!!!" shouted Gary.

He soon jumped out from behind the generators, before running his way towards them both. While that happened, N-Trance started cackling at them, while Tiko and the others left the room the way they came in - a door on the right. Back with Gary...

"Leave him alone, please!"

He jumped his way onto his back, and took a hold of his hair like handlebars. He started pulling them one by one, but it seemed that they didn't do any effect to his actions towards Chyna. That left him to look down at the wombat-creature and pull her off his hand, leaving her with a scream. Then, they ran their way towards the others.

"Our attacks aren't working on him!" he spoke with anxiety. "Can we see another way out of it?"

This left some of the others looking confused at the glance at him. Then, they turned towards N-Trance, whom had his right arm - the one with the watch - held up high with vileness. It was there when Crash lowered his head into the darkness and smiled at it.

"I think I got an idea! Come on, let's go!"

He gestured at the others before they all started making their way towards him. There, he stepped forward and growled at his face, with Chyna and Boron coming from behind him, leering over at his expressions. That caused him to scream slightly.

"You're not going anywhere with that mutt, aren't you?"

Crash didn't respond. All he did was brought out his hand towards N-Trance, and it was there when Chyna and Boron started chasing him around the room, side by side. Then, it wasn't long until they both leapt up into the air and pounded on the top of his head.

"OOF!"

The attack sent him down to the ground with a roll, then he soon stood back up with a smirk brought upon his face. This left the pair to look on at him, looking for their next target to make their strike to.

"To the left a little!" ordered Crash as he pointed in that direction. "That's where his weaknesses should lie!"

They started to side step towards the direction of his arm with the watch in it. He started shielding it with his other arm, but that was until they both ran towards him and pulled it down with a slight bit of eagerness in their mouths.

"It's working!" shouted Gary. "He's starting to look drowsy!"

As he said that, N-Trance's face started to show a bit of sweat pouring down the side, leaving his eyes to show more hesitance than before. From nearby, most of the others started cheering on for them both, leaving the rest to look at Neo, whom somehow started to slow down and he started to hover closer to the ground.

"Just a little harder!" Bev shouted. "We can't lose the fight now!"

After shouting that, she turned back towards the others, whom were seen looking over at Neo's gradual slowing-down progress. Back with Chyna and Boron, they brought their hands out towards N-Trance's arms, scratching his left arm with a deep cut.

"My arm!!!"

With no second thoughts, they started worsening the scratch. Over time, several electric sparks started to get out from there, starting to cause the limb to shake like there was no tomorrow. And then... the hand was cut off. From inside it, a set of blue and green wires can be seen, all snapped and showing their insides, glowing with a short circuit going through them. From there, N-Trance's face started to dive into deep panic.

"My beautiful arm... destroyed?!?!? Bah... thank goodness for mechanics nearby", he spoke with a twitch.

He then picked up the clock-hand from off the floor, and started making his way towards the door, where the others suddenly stopped cheering and looked at him. He opened it with his other arm, and growled over at his opponents.

"You'll have your chance much later, bandicoot! We'll meet again!"

Crash tried to swipe towards him, but he missed his grasp. That left the egg-creature to go into the darkness of the door, and leave it shut right in front of him. That left him breathing heavily, before turning straight back towards the others. They were seen as a crowd, looking around in a circular motion. Once there, he started running his way towards them, and made his way to the center - he saw Bev crouched down over Neo, with all signs of consciousness lost from his body.

"Is he... going to be alright?" she muttered.

"I think he is", whispered Gary. "He's still breathing. He'd probably be a bit washed out from the attack."

He then walked towards her and crouched down to her level, before giving out a light smile from his mouth. Then, they looked on at the others, whom seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as he did. Or rather... most.

"But... I'm still worried about this", started Sara with a shake in her throat. "Once he comes to, what if he continues to show his dark side?"

"It's not gonna happen, I assure you", replied Crash.

As he spoke, he walked over to Sara's direction, and placed an arm around her shoulder. That caused her eyes to widen with a slight bit of shock, before she turned towards the emerald green eyes of the orange anthro himself.

"You really mean it?"

He gave out a nod, with a smile brought across his mouth and a twinkle in his eye. And then, she started to face the exact same expressions, leaving them in silence for a while. Then, from nearby, Crunch started to walk back to the hole in the wall created at the start.

"Well, you know what this means - might as well make our way out of here before we get trapped again."

He then stood out of the way, and left the others to emerge out towards the sunset sunlit skies outside one by one. That left him to turn back towards Neo, pick him up and place him flopping onto his shoulder before heading outside too.

"Talk about a long day, ya?" Zephyr said with a bellow.

"Yeah, and it'll be even longer if you don't do anything about your hair", whispered Lozzy with a growl.

That comment caused Zephyr to start blinking at a fast rate, before turning to her direction. She continued to leer at him, before turning away to her left hand side. From there, her eye contact soon met with Jenny's.

"I still don't understand what you have against foxes with long silver ha-"

Lozzy soon interrupted. "Maybe the same way I don't understand what's with boy bands these days?"

She folded her arms with a slight bit of anger, before she started to edge her way closer towards her. From her pockets, she pulled out a set of playing cards, all with sharp blades on the tips. She was about to strike them towards her neck, until... Snappy came in the middle of them and pushed them away from each other.

"Leave her alone, and let's try and settle this tomorrow."

---

Back inside the factory, N-Trance was seen running through what almost seemed to be total darkness, but with the sparks from his injured hand dimly lighting the way for him. Then, he reached the end of the path, where he saw Tiko sitting on an iron chair in what looked like an office mixed in with a mission control.

"What brings you back here so soon?"

He looked on at N-Trance with ice starting to run through his eyes. While that happened, he placed the torn hand into a compartment inside his armor, before looking on at his blank expression upon it. Then, he started to shake and blurt from his mouth.

"What, are you pointing at me?"

"I'm not talking to myself, or anyone else around here!" Tiko replied back with an irritated look. "Did Neo eliminate the enemies?"

The egg creature was about to raise his mouth to speak, but... somehow, nothing came out from there, and then, he closed it firmly and looked down to the ground, with his mouth starting to quiver as time passed. Tiko then looked at him with a blink.

"Now what?"

"Look what they did to my arm!" he shouted.

He showed his torn arm, and that was where the sparks from the torn wires started to show within Tiko's face. That caused his ice green eyes to turn more of a burnt and darker color, and he clutched his fists with as furious a rage as he could possibly get.

"I DON'T BLOODY BELIEVE THIS!!!!!"

He got up from his seat, and started making his way towards N-Trance with anger brought upon his face. Once near him, he stepped over him with a shadow cast down to the face of fear for his partner. Then, he crouched down to him, with his hands held together.

"How can you possibly fail me?" he shouted with his voice being echoed around the room. "I assigned you to the easiest task yet, and you fail me?"

"But I-"

Tiko started speaking again before N-Trance could finish his sentence. "Do you really want to help me reach the magic of the island?"

"Of course I d-"

"Then the next time you're assigned to a job," Tiko started shouting with more impatience, "return with nothing but full marks! NOW GET OUT!!!"

He then pointed him back towards the dark tunnels of the way he came, before he started running his way down himself, looking like he was about to be beheaded. As soon as he vanished from his view, Tiko sat back down, trying to think of what to go about doing next.

-end of part 4-


	5. Spotlight of the Wolarcoot

-AUTHOR NOTES-

Get ready for part five… meep! So I may not have many comments on the past chapter, but if you were one of the people who saw it, thanks for coming along and taking a look into it. ;)

This next chapter focuses on a counterattack from the group after the events of Chapters 3 and 4. Even now I'd wonder to myself why I gave Lio pink ooze for fighting and a waterboy job that cost him his eye, but oh well… XD

Another Power Crisis reference is shown within here too – be on the lookout for Daniel J. Kujasagi, or "DJ" as he was referred to the people around him. He used to be a witchdoctor living on Volcano Isle with mages like himself, but the volcano's eruption within the story covered his village and devoured almost everyone in it. Ouch. :(

Hope you like this part as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

The sun started to rise above the skyscrapers scattered across the city. While that happened, several figures started to make their ways out of their home doors, going about their daily businesses. At the same time, a man in a sage's costume reached the penthouse nearest to him, carrying a package in its arm. It knocked on the door three times.

"If you're that dodgy cheese salesman", yelled Snappy's voice from inside the building, "I'm gonna push you back down the grater you walked upon!"

The door soon opened itself with a light creak, causing him to look on at the figure. That left his face to suddenly face a slight bit of hesitance, before he started to crouch down on his knees a bit and looking to the figure at full view. It was seen wearing bear-paw shaped shoes, and from the top he wore a long set of furry pants, a long scarf going across his neck and down the right hand side of his chest, a long cloak behind him, and had stripes on his face. He gasped at him.

"Ah, so I take you want something else, do you?"

"Actually, I'm here to drop off the remedy for your friend's incoming hangover", said the stranger.

He showed the package into the light, and removed the wrapping paper from around it, showing it as a bottle of sorts. It had a bright green liquid in there, glowing within the sunlight. He started to smile over at it, before it was passed into his hands.

"Thanks!" Snappy smiled. "And... you must be...?"

"Daniel J. Kujasagi", he replied. "I was with Neo when an eruption on Volcano Isle almost wiped out all my species."

He brought back his long scarf as he said that, before he looked down, with the memories of people just like him living on an island, working with harmony. He sighed at the sight of it. Snappy looked on at his expressions, before he started to give out a smile.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. Come on in!"

He went to him and placed his hand around his neck and brought him inside the cozy hallways of the penthouse. They soon reached the main room, where most of the others were seen crowding around, exchanging cups of hot beverages. At the sight of the visitor, Gary gave out a surprising gasp.

"DJ! what are you doing here?"

"Just a bit of natural business, that's all", he replied back. "I've heard about a threat to the island and its natural order, and perhaps I could help you with it after all."

"Even with the machines running within that wrecked factory?"

DJ gave out a slight nod, before he started walking his way towards the middle of the room. He placed his hands on his hips, with his eyes being brought into deep thought. A light smile started to creep across him, before he turned back to the group with a wink.

"I think I may have a few ideas linking to them, but we shall see."

With that, he jumped on top of an upturned chair, and sat down comfortably. He then brought his eyes to the figures in the room, one by one, before he knew that a bunch of major plans were to be unleashed from his mind, straight into the thoughts of his "audience".

---

In another room lies a bed in a corner, holding Neo with a torn bandage around his forehead. He started to stir, and then... his eyes started to blink their way open. Then, he started to raise his head, and look around at the blurred surroundings of the room.

"What... happened?"

"Ah, Neo! You're up!" a voice exclaimed.

He lifted his head up, and he saw Bev entering the room with what looked like a lengthy silver platter. She then reached him, and placed it near him - buttered toast and a cup of coffee were seen on it. He started to smile at the sight of them, before looking over at her.

"I don't understand what's happened around here", he said. "One minute I was tied up, being persuaded to join my brothers' side, and the next minute... I'm here? Being offered like a shrine?"

He looked down at his offerings, with his face starting to show a slight bit of confusion. Then, he brought his eye contact towards her, whom somehow brought her hand onto his shoulder, with a light smile drawn across her face. She then got round to stroking the back of his hair a few seconds after.

"I hate to say this, but that N-Trance guy possessed your mind."

"N-Trance?" he questioned with shock.

He then blinked with a slight bit of worry, before... a sting came across his left arm. That caused him to yelp slightly, before leaning back with his back against the bedposts, and his hand clutching onto it. He couldn't stop rubbing it for five whole seconds.

"Ow, the pain!"

"It's okay", she spoke in a soothing voice. "We'll see if we can ease it off."

She then went towards the other side of the room, where a sink could be seen. She filled up a pot of water in there, before dipping a cloth into there, returning to his side and wrapping his arm with it. The cold liquid soon started to ease the pain away from his expressions.

This left them sitting in silence for a while, with their eye contact fixed onto each other. Then, Neo looked down at himself, lifted the silver platter from its position and placed it on a side table, before he found the courage to finally stand up on both feet.

(scene quickly changes to another)

A couple of hours later, the living room was packed as DJ was seen walking around a white board with what looked like a map of Tiko's factory hideout on there. He had a large bamboo stick in his right hand, occasionally tapping it onto the board as he spoke.

"Okay, here's the plan. We head towards that so-called factory of his from a bearing of 186.9 degrees. From there, we reach the tunnels underneath, and check the properties for the shipment of the machines. Any questions?"

"Why are you convinced that Tiko has a basement?" asked Snappy in a low tone.

That left a sweat drop to go down the side of DJ's face, before he fell over himself. Then, he looked up from his position, and saw the alligator beaming down at his direction. That caused him to sigh with a slight bit of anger being caught within his teeth.

"I'm just trying my best to prove something, Gator!"

"Duh, you got any better ideas?" questioned Martha.

"You bet your red hair that I do!" the alligator shouted back. "We go underground and scan the machines for their properties!"

As he said that, DJ stood up. Then, as soon as Snappy stopped speaking, he started making his way towards him, before taking a hold of him by the collar with a twitch going right across his chin. A growl started to form within his teeth, before... he hesitated and released his grip.

"But that's what I just said!!!"

"Well, had to be something, didn't it?" Snappy spoke with a wink.

He folded his arms with a twitch in his left eye. Then, this left them both leering at each other, with their eyes starting to show more signs of coldness towards them. The hatred between the pair soon started to catch onto Neo, whom came between them and pushed them aside.

"Never mind arguing over it now, we'd best get this over with!"

"Good thinking Batman!" chuckled Martha.

He gave a wink over in her direction, before removing his bandages and waving them like floppy majorette sticks. Then, they all left the pent house together, looking out towards clear blue skies right ahead of them. If all goes well, the truth behind Tiko's return to his hometown could be revealed.

---

It didn't take long until the group made their way over to the main street, where the deserted factory lied right at the end of it. They looked on at it, eclipsing the sunlight at this stage. But that was until... the front doors of it suddenly swung right open. From there, a blur with a pair of bright yellow headlights made its way out from the building, zooming its way down the street, leaving behind several skid marks as it went past. Even the lights from the headlamps couldn't illuminate what was on the vehicle... until it was 50 meters from Sara's viewpoint.

"LOOK OUT FROM AHEAD!!!"

She pointed at it, and it was there when the group soon jumped their way inside a bunch of trash cans. The vehicle zoomed past them, knocking over some empty containers. Then, some of the others raised their eyes one by one at the glimpse of it. Some of which even seemed to show confusion.

"Phew", sighed Jenny. "That was a close one! And... why would they want to leave that sudden?"

"No idea", said Gary with a shrug, "but we ain't standing around to find out!"

In a flash, they all jumped out from their hiding places and made their run down the road. It wasn't long until they reached the end of it - a harbor. They saw a boat starting to leave further and further away from them, and inside they saw Tiko and the others, advancing towards a target on the horizon.

"They're heading to the isle itself!" screamed Beverley. "But... why?"

"No stupid questions, woman!" retaliated Snappy. "Let's get 'em!"

He pointed over at a few boats nearby. They all hopped in four at a time - Neo leading one, Bev taking another, Jenny taking the grip onto another, and Crash occupying the other with all five of his time-traveling companions with him. They were stirring far, but that was until Jenny got her oar stuck onto Lozzy.

"HEY! Mind the hair!!!"

That caused her to scream slightly, before she started to tug it away from Lozzy's face. That left them in a panic for a few seconds, until she was finally set free. Over in Neo's boat, they got far ahead, but over the edge, Martha started to feel a sight of queasiness across her face.

"You're going too fast! I feel seasick!"

"You ain't the only one", whispered Brio with weakness.

It was inevitable - both of them placed their heads over the sides of the boat, and started puking up, leaving Neo and Snappy to continue rowing, in a gradual struggle. The island now showed itself as a large lump about half a mile away from them.

"Come on now, we're almost there!" exclaimed Crash with happiness. "There's nothing to be afraid of for sure!"

At his shout, the bearers of the oars started to row much faster than before, causing them to end up speeding along the surface like speedboats. Then, they ended up 10 meters away from the sandy shores, with no urge for stopping. It was there when Crunch noticed a boulder sticking out from the water, and his face showed a slight bit of fear.

"Slam the brakes!!!"

He brought out his oar and one of his hands for breaks right at the back of his boat. That caused Spike to end up screaming, losing his balance nearby. Then, most of the others faced the same fate, leaving what looked like watery skid marks before touching onto the grass. They all reached the surface one by one, leaving deep marks in the bright white sand. As they screeched, most of the smaller ones ended up falling out and landing head first onto the ground. Nearby, the others then stepped out and looked at the view ahead of them.

"Let's face it this way - at least we got 'em cornered", spoke Zephyr loudly.

"I know, but..." Neo paused. "Take a look at the size of this island. This could make things more difficult than it seems. A lot more difficult."

They stepped closer towards the volcano right in the center of it, and it was there when a tunnel could be seen on the left hand side of it. He immediately pointed over at it, and that was where they started climbing inside it one by one, away from the daylight. They were plunged into darkness for a brief ten seconds, until... something started to light up ahead of them - a bright purple crystal. They looked up at it, and saw it twinkling down to a diamond path down below. That caused them to give out a smile at the sight.

"Take look at structures!" sighed Chyna. "How beautiful...!"

"Yeah, they remind me of the caverns back home", Zephyr responded with a wink. "Still, drawings like that are hard to come by."

As he spoke, he looked over at a bunch of cave drawings on his right. They showed stick figures of civilizations communicating together, and being surrounded by several huts. The peaceful sights caused Zephyr to edge closer, and place his hands onto the cold stone surface.

"Do you think they tell a story of the past of the island?"

"I'm not sure", said Neo in a breezy tone. "Everything looks a bit too peaceful, don't you think?"

The blue fox didn't respond. Instead, he remained frozen for a mere few more seconds, before removing his hands from the surface. Both of them turned back, but... that was where they saw Sparky, starring over at the drawings with a pair of shrunken eyes.

"Sparky?"

He didn't speak back. Almost as like in a trance, he started stepping his way closer towards the drawings, before placing his hands on them himself. His tail started twitching from left to right, in time with his hair moving gently inside the chasm. A small tear started to fall from his eye somehow later.

"It reminds me of how my home planet was before it was destroyed...!"

He started to twitch on the nose, before he looked down, and rubbed his face with his right hand paw. Then, he looked back towards the others, whom all seemed to show faces filled with concern right towards him. Within the crowd, Neo took a step closer, and analyzed the drawings much closer.

"You think that the island and your 'planet' have a connection?"

"I don't know", responded the wolarcoot with a shake in his voice. "We can argue for the case that they share a similar sort of power. I don't know much about the rest."

He then looked up, back at the drawings, all starting to show peace within his eyes. Then... all of a sudden, he turned away at it - from his fear-stricken face it seemed that he didn't even want to take a look at it. From much further back still, Spike went towards the wall, and took a hold of a loose part with his hands.

"Maybe if we take a sample of it then that could help with the unpeeling of this scenario...?"

He then started to pull hard onto the wall, until... dust particles started to fall onto the ground beneath. Then, a slab showing a part of the cave drawings was pulled off, revealing nothing but bright crystals underneath it. He then slipped the chunk inside a backpack on Martha's back.

"I'm not sure if that was a good idea Spi-"

"It's okay, relax", responded Spike before she could finish. "I know what I'm doing."

With a smile, he zipped up the bag, and then he started walking his way closer towards the others, whom all seemed to exchange smiles back. They then started to walk further ahead, with the crystals giving off multi-colored lights onto their faces. But then... something bright was seen ahead of them.

"Take a look at the light up ahead!" exclaimed Jenny.

She pointed at the end of the tunnel, and a bright white flash can be seen flickering once every few seconds. She started to smile at it, before she started to run at it herself. Most of the others soon followed her as that happened, especially some of the smaller ones. It was only a matter of seconds when they reached the source of the flashing - a circular room with a large pit in the center. Inside it, a bright white substance can be seen, giving off a bright crystal-like odor around it. Most of the group smiled at it... however Boron was one of those that gave out a light howl.

"Now what boy?" asked Jenny.

He pointed beyond the fog from the substance, and it was there that a shadow can only be just made out. A baseball-capped shadow. A long-haired baseball-capped shadow. That caused some of the group to edge closer towards it, trying to see it in the light. As they showed confusion, Boron can be seen to be the only one growling.

"Something's telling me that you eat your carrots...!" she responded back with a slight quiver.

Before anything else could happen, the fog from the pit started to give way, and the colors of the figure could be seen much more clearly. The figure was then seen stacking what looked like boulders from one room to another. Its colors of red, green, white and blue started to familiarize Neo, as he pointed at him.

"Hold it right there, Lio!"

The shout caused the figure to stop in his tracks. Then, he gave out several blinks, before turning in his direction, whom was seen with his hands held together in a tight grasp. The green haired male was seen taking several steps back, before removing something from his pockets - a pink substance of sorts.

"Uh-oh... caught me red handed, I guess."

"Never mind about that", Neo started. "Tell me what you're doing!"

"Shhh, careful!" whispered Zephyr. "You might wake up the bats around here!"

He pointed up at the ceiling, and most of the others followed his cue. Expecting to see winged creatures flapping up on the stalactites above, their eyes were met with absolutely nothing there. That left some of them to look at Zephyr with some signs of arrogance in their eyes.

"Very funny, long-hair", growled Lozzy.

An anime sweat drop went down the side of Zephyr's face, before he took a step back behind the group. This left silence to come by, until Lio started stretching the pink substance like an accordion, smirking at the sight of it and its glimmering crystal-like colors inside it.

"You understand so little about the true magic of Volcano Isle, young brother. One who knows zilch can understand zilch."

"Can you at least tell me what kind of connection it has with the machines back in your factory?" shouted Neo once again.

He then edged closer towards Lio, whom was seen smirking underneath the shoulder-length grass green hair of his. That left him to end up taking a stride towards the group, with his hands held together in an almost back-breaking grasp, with the substance held right between them.

"Puh-lease, you're jumping too far up the plot here. I think your curiosity over this whole scenario has grown way too much for its own good."

He then stretched the substance into some sort of whip, before he brought it back over him. As that happened, it started to surge with crimson energy going around it. At the sight, Neo took out a gasp and started to block the group like a hockey goalkeeper, pacing back and forth among the ground.

"Don't do it, Neo!" shouted Martha. "We didn't ask for this!"

"I know, and I didn't either, but better that than nothing!"

He looked over at her, whom started to show a slight bit of innocence through her sapphire blue eyes. She started to quiver at the sight of it, before looking on at the others, whom all seemed to face more confident expressions. With a smile, Neo turned around and pointed at Spike, Snappy, Sparky and DJ, one at a time.

"You lot - you're coming with me on this one!"

The four looked on at him, and saw him showing a sign of determination. And then, it seemed inevitable - still, there was refusal on the plans between the machines and the magic of Volcano Isle. The five took a position in a straight line, and to them, it seemed that something could be sorted out between both parties after all.

---

The lights from the pit in the center of the room started to give way, before it seemed to seal together like a stone slab came on top of it from out of nowhere. This left both parties to start walking their way across the room in circles, with determination to reach their opponents.

"You've had enough knowing of this island for long enough!" Lio brawled from his mouth. "Stay clear!"

He then took a tighter grip onto the pink substance in his hands, before he stretched it out even further, to the length of a skipping rope. He then scowled over at them all, before aiming it straight towards them all, hurling like a bullet at several hundred miles per hour.

"What on Earth is that thing?" screamed Spike with a jump.

"I dunno," whispered Neo, "but it sure could be mighty powerful...!"

Before anything else could be said, it struck the ground at a powerful force, leaving them to jump in the air at the sight of it. They then took several steps back, but... the whip seemed to extend itself even further, before striking straight towards them once again.

"TAKE COVER!" shouted Sparky. "ALL OF YOU!!!"

They then all rolled to either the left or right - whichever side is nearer to them - and made their way deep within the shadows there. This left Lio to look from left to right, before deciding to make his way to the right, with a confident expression going across his face.

"You can't escape from me! The energy from the Lifestream has been ensured of that!"

He sent the whip straight towards the three in the darkness, bringing them back towards him like a yo-yo. Then, he looked towards Neo and Sparky to the left of the room, before sending the whip towards them too, tying them with the others. This left them on a struggle to try and break free.

"Sparky, try to shock us free!" DJ brawled.

"But... I can't! That'll be like killing you all!"

"I don't care if we're hanging over the edge of the world! Just free us, okay?"

A face filled with hesitation came across the wolarcoot's face, before he looked down to the dusty ground beneath him. That left him with a worried expression starting to come straight across him. He then looked up from his position, and then... he gave out a light sigh.

"Fine", retaliated the wolarcoot. "But don't say I didn't warn you!"

At his comment, DJ gave out a smile from his face. Then, this left the five in silence for several seconds. Lio was left walking his way towards the group, with a lighter smirk going across his face... until... yellow energy came across Sparky's body.

"HERE YOU GO!!!"

He sent out a strong thunderbolt from his body, rising up into the air. Then, it started to cover the room like strobe lights, breaking several rocks and, in turn, the grasp on the pink substance. All that Lio could do was look back at it, with a stunned look.

"Whoa, talk about incredible force...!"

He was left gawking at them, before seeing the blob return to him like a yo-yo, forming one solid ball inside his hand. This left the others to make a run for it, before... most of them started to show signs of weakness on their bodies, mainly signs of dizziness.

"You guys can't give up now!" Sparky said loudly towards them. "We gotta get back into business!"

"I know, but..." Snappy looked down at his fingers. "I think my pinkies have gone numb!"

He looked down at his fingers, and started waving them at an incredible speed. As they took cover on the sidelines, all that Sparky could do was look back and forth from the others to Lio, whom was seen with a sneer widening upon his very face.

"So, it's just you and me, isn't it Rover? Well, time to see if you can face the grasp alone!"

He then brought back the ooze again, before launching it straight towards the wolarcoot. All he could do was look on at it like a zombie with his own two eyes. But it wasn't long until the ooze soon reached his side, and was about to strike him upon the chest. But...

"Look out!!!" shouted a voice from the other side of the room.

From the sidelines, Neo made his dash towards him, and pushed him out of the way just in time. This left the blob to end up striking something else, with a snap brought onto it. Meanwhile, the pair were brought down to the floor. As Sparky's rescuer smiled, the wolarcoot himself had attention brought to something else - a fearful sight.

"Oh my God, what's happened to your leg?"

He pointed straight towards Neo's left leg, and he lifted it up into the air. A cut could be seen across it, with a scratch brought right across the flesh inside it. He tried to stand up on two feet, but... the limb seemed to give way. All that the wolarcoot could do was look on with shock.

"Ah, it's just nothing!" said Neo with confidence. "Here, let me climb onto your back!"

Sparky was left with a blank expression for a while, before he hesitated to climbing down on all fours. From there, Neo jumped his way on top of him, leaving them to fly above the ground. They then reached the same height as the lowest stalactite on the ceiling, before looking down at their opponent.

"What kind of pussed-out tactic is that supposed to be?" questioned Lio in an undertone.

"Never you mind about that!" Sparky shouted. "Tell me where you got that blob from!"

They were left looking at him for a while, before... Lio hesitated in bringing out the substance behind him, and hurling it straight towards the group like a baseball. The sight of them caused them to duck right underneath it, letting it knock a stalactite off.

"I take he's more like the anti-social type isn't he?"

All that Neo could do was give out a shrug. At the same time, the blob soon made its way back towards Lio like a boomerang. He caught it in both hands safely, before stepping back, and pulling it out into a "rope" again. He then launched it straight towards them, causing them to gasp at its incoming force.

"Quick Sparky!" gestured Neo. "Get down!"

That left him to start hovering further down towards the ground, with the draft coming straight through the wolarcoot's fur. They were only halfway down, when... the rope started to come much closer to them. Hesitating, they started flying at a steeper angle, in increasing speed.

"Not too fast!!!" he shouted again.

This left them coming further down towards the ground, and towards Lio, and once there, the wolarcoot brought out both hands and pushed him into a wall. A light rumble was heard, before... it started getting louder and louder. That left the group to look around them with shock.

"You obviously have met your match!" Lio responded with a smirk. "Now, be prepared to be swallowed into the darkness you came from!"

He then made his way towards a darkened opening nearby, blocking his view from the scene. This left the others to look around, trapped, before seeing the stalactites to fall right on top of them at a brisk rate, placing them sealed right behind a curtain of darkness.

---

The scene reopens at a darker tunnel, where the ground was seen to be quite moist, and several rocks were seen huddled in a corner. Suddenly, one of them started to stir, and from there, it fell down to the ground. Inside it, Neo placed his head out, with most of the others soon following his cue.

"Whoa, I feel like Hell...!"

"You ain't the only one", said Snappy in a breathless tone. "It's gonna take me seventeen paracetamol tablets to get past this one!"

The alligator made a leap out onto the ground, with his feet making a comfortable position onto the ground. Then, the others then pulled themselves out from the wrecks one by one. They looked up, and saw what looked like freshly turned earth right above them. It seemed that they were brought down to a lower level.

"Well, now that we're down here," said Brio with a blink, "how do we expect to get out?"

Lozzy pointed her way towards a channel of water ahead of her. "We swim. There's nowt better to do around here, isn't there?"

"Well, that could be a fair point", shrugged Zephyr. "But you can't tell with this sort of water."

They looked on at the waters, which started to ripple slightly, some of which even making their way towards the tips of Snappy's claw-like feet. They made a light paddle into them, looking on at the view ahead of them. However, Chyna went ahead of the group, but... she was only stomach deep when something caught her eyes.

"Guys! Chyna think Chyna can! Look!"

She then pointed right ahead, causing most of the others to start wading much closer towards her. Then, they came to a sudden stop around her. From their view, nothing can be seen from there but the gentle moving of the seaweed on the watery surface underneath them. Then... from inside the waters, something started to stir. Several bubbles started to rise their way to the surface, vanishing with a pop as soon as they got there. This left Chyna to take a light step back upon the sight of it, dipping her chin into the water as she did so.

"I don't see anything", muttered Crash.

"Look closer", said Crunch as he pointed at them. "I think I can see some shadows heading this way!"

He then started to take a closer step into the water, and from there, several shadows started to make their way closer towards them. They seemed to be as small as Boron's head upon appearance, but... their sharp teeth and fins showed a frightening appearance to them all.

"PIRANHAS!!!!!!!" they all shouted together.

This left them screaming, allowing the deadly fish to swim closer towards them, hoping to take a chunk out of them. But as soon as they reached them, they side stepped their way around them, before making their way deeper into the waters. The fish then turned around, and started growling at them.

"Boron, take a hold of me!" shouted Neo. "And we'll get out together!"

Sparky showed a face of confusion. "But what about your leg? Are you sure you can manage?"

All that Neo could do was give out a nod in Sparky's direction, before floating onto the water with his head sticking out. Boron soon climbed right on top of him, and once there, they both used their arms for pushing themselves forward. This left the wolarcoot to look on at them with surprise.

"I take that as a yes...?"

As he stood there, the others then made their way past him. Then, without realizing, one of the fish almost bit his tail, causing him to retaliate by speeding down the waters and performing the Butterfly all the way towards the rest of them.

"That's it, stay back you lone bastards!" cursed Snappy.

His voice echoed across the room, and while that happened he looked down at his two feet, where he saw a pair of piranhas starting to swim around him. With no hesitation, he brought his hands into the water, pulled them up by their tails and tossed them onto the walls.

"That's one way of saying it, Snaps!" giggled Jenny.

"Why, thank you very much, young woman!"

With that, he gave in a twitch of his jaws straight towards her direction, before looking on ahead. And it was there when a roadblock was seen making its way towards them - the watery path had to take them right underwater. This left a face of fear onto Boron's face.

"At all times the water's gonna go deeper!" screamed Spike. "Quick, down below!"

They soon reached the edge and dived in one by one. They started making their way through, with some of the weaker members holding onto stronger swimmers for support, earning the advantage of looking directly behind them at various intervals.

At one interval, Neo took a tight grip onto Snappy's shoulders, and he and Boron took a glance at the route behind them. The piranhas weren't too far from them - this left them in a serious spot of bother upon making their way out from the scene.

They were close to chewing their feet off, until they suddenly started rising up to the surface. Once there, they all gasped for air, before they started speeding their way down the channel once again. The piranhas soon came out two seconds later, speeding up by diving up and down like dolphins.

"That was almost TOO close!" shouted DJ. "Now where's an exit when we need one?"

This left them in silence, until something caught Beverley's eye. "Right over there! Look!"

She pointed right ahead of them, and saw a break of daylight right ahead of them. They started making their way closer towards them, but then... they saw that the route was blocked by a metal grated door. And a fair distance away from it, the waters seemed to make their way over a nearby waterfall.

"Oh, look what's there - another stupid roadblock!" shouted Gary with panic.

Sara soon reached the gates, and pointed at a gap underneath it. "Quick, dive now!"

She looked back, and saw the piranhas making their way much closer towards them. One by one they started making their way underneath the gate, going through as fast as possible. But Martha was one of the last few remaining, struggling to make it under because of her own fear of the deadly fish.

"I don't think I'm gonna last much longer!!!"

"Martha, hold onto my waist!" shouted Lozzy with determination.

She looked on at Lozzy, shaking with fear. And then, she turned back to the piranhas - they were only 30 meters away from her. Screaming, she dived under the gates and brought her hands around Lozzy's waist, whom soon took her by the hands and pulled her up. They started running from the scene, looking for somewhere safe to climb, but... no avail. This left them looking on at the piranhas, each of them trying to break the door open with their teeth.

"They don't seem to be giving up!" cried Martha. "We is all gonna die!!!"

As she screamed, she went behind Lozzy and cowered with her legs starting to shake at the sight of it. The piranhas started bashing harder against the gates, causing some of the metal chunks to fall off. Then... it fell down altogether, allowing them to pass through. This left Snappy to take a step back at it, before... falling down the waterfall, head first.

"Heeeeeeelp!"

"Snappy!!!" Neo shouted with a gasp.

He then took a step back and dived down with him. Some of the others tried to reach Neo as that happened, but... it was already too late. While that happened, the piranhas started to attempt to bite their feet, causing them to end up jumping off the edge themselves, and down into the mysterious location beneath.

-end of part 5-


	6. Interview with a Psychic

-AUTHOR NOTES-

Might as well try to be basic with this one. In this part we follow the group after their piranha chase at the end of the past chapter. I personally was surprised to see them land a bit too far from the ocean… oO

Most of this part follows a series of prophesies as given out by Aiko Vince. Now she was a part of the Power Crisis set in herself – she started out as a Japanese tourist visiting Hawaii, and showed herself as a strong battler against the rebelling Navy. At the end of the story she left the group for a game company job in Tokyo… although cleaning the floors of Konami's developing rooms weren't quite what she had in mind. :P

Anyhow, hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

A darkened tunnel opens up in the next scene, and deep within it, a figure can be seen walking in the darkness. It wore long clothing, had highlights of pale skin across its face, and had long green hair brought down to where her heart lies. She then ended up facing the hand of Boron, buried within the gravel underneath. Then, she looked further on, and saw the whole group ahead of her, stuck in what seemed like a mixture of quicksand and gravel.

"Need a hand?" it spoke.

The wolverine gave out a light nod, and this left her to start pulling the group out, one by one. Once some of which were out, they started helping her pull out the others. They were all soon brought to their feet, leaving them to look at the figure within the darkness.

"Who..." Neo looked on at it in shock. "Who are you?"

"You forgotten about me? I can remember you from about seven years back."

With a twitch of the head, it started to make its way towards the light. It showed itself as a female figure, wearing black clothing from her head to her toes. Her skin was of a deathly white, and her green hair was set in almost the same style as Lozzy's long hair. That left some of them to gasp at her.

"Wait a minute... that hair... the clothes... your face!" Neo gave out a long gasp. "I think... it's all coming back to me!"

"Me too" said Gary with a wink. "I'm surprised you can even come down here at a time like this!"

Both males gave out a smile towards her, whom can only look back at them with a blank look. She then made her way past the group, and looked on at the view of the waters from behind them. A six foot drop was down below, with not a single stretch of sand to walk upon underneath.

"Actually," she said, "I've been down here for a while now. I've been stuck on this island for what seems like weeks."

She then turned back to the others, with her face starting to take more of a philosophical form. She then started to leave deep footprints within the gravel, as she made her way back. While that happened, her eyes met with Beverley's, whom can only look at her with her lower lip quivering at that point.

"Aiko Vince? Is that... you?"

The mysterious figure then leant towards a wall in a gentle twitch, with her eyes continuing to be brought over to her. Then, she gave in a light nod. Hope soon came towards Bev's heart - an old friend of hers, whom moved to Tokyo before being reunited on the island seven years beforehand, has returned.

(scene changes to another)

It didn't take too long until the group soon started walking their way down the tunnels again. The shortage on light crystals left their only light resource to be Sparky, whom gave out an electric spark from his finger and shone it out ahead of the group like a flashlight.

"So what brings you down here?" Neo asked her.

"Something remarkable. A prophecy told me of a powerful stone to be brought down here shortly. So this left me on a search for it."

"You seemed pretty sharp!" chuckled Martha. "How could you survive without food?"

She then looked up, and saw several bats flying around from the ceiling. She pointed up at them, and then she brought her focus down to the ground - several bones can be seen scattered across it. That left Boron to turn green with disgust, before covering his eyes trying to hide the thought.

"Oh, so that's where you took it from", Martha whispered with disgust. "Pretty scary huh?"

Aiko gave in a confused look back, before looking back towards the tunnel ahead of her. From behind her, Boron climbed his way towards Neo's back, starting to tremble with a slight bit of fear shown across his face. Near him, his partner gave off a few reassuring strokes to calm him down.

"So can you tell us more about this stone?" questioned Sara to her.

"Not much I may know about it, but I can recall it having a glow of lemon on it."

A glow of lemon. The very thought of it reoccurred inside Sparky's mind - the illusion of an opal-like stone, with a bright lemon-yellow glow around it appeared right in front of him. And from there, a monstrous shadow flew in the background. That caused him to soon come to his senses and blurt from his mouth.

"Wasn't that... the stone that I just came out from?"

The shout caused the group to soon come to a stop. That soon caused Aiko to turn in his direction, with curiosity starting to spread across her face. She eyed the wolarcoot up and down, before she suddenly brought her arms out and walked right towards him.

"Wait a minute... tell me more!"

She then started walking closer towards him, and it didn't seem to be long until she took a warm grip around his arms. That left them to edge closer towards each other. She had determination on her face, while he was shaking his head at 30 miles per hour.

"Oh no, I doubt that I'm the philosophical type! Leave that job to someone else!"

"Please, tell me!" Aiko shouted.

"Not if you tell me who told you about the stone first!"

That caused her to soon release her grip from the wolarcoot's arms, before she turned back at him as she walked back towards the others. Then, she soon brought her body forward and looked on towards each of the crewmembers, one by one. She occasionally raised her head to the ceiling, seeing the bats flying by.

"Let me admit something to you guys."

Again, she walked away from the group, and found a rock stuck up into the air. Then, she climbed onto it and sat down on it firmly. She brought her chin into her knees, before looking on from right ahead of her, speaking from her very mouth and twitching her eyebrows every few seconds.

"In my years back at Tokyo, I took a pastime at looking into the future."

"Ah, with a time machine!" laughed Neo.

"No, I'm meaning in the way of developing psychic powers. I've viewed the powers of the stone through my mind, and I believe that it should bring some peace to this world."

This left some of the crew members to look at each other with slight bits of confusion at her words. Some of which even had the courage to exchange shrugs and strange looking frowns on their faces. Even Sparky seemed to show a face diving into concern.

"What, the destruction of my planet bringing peace to another? That's crazy!"

He shouted that line, as he brought his claw-like hands forward, with a slight bit of hesitance brought into his face. But it wasn't too long until Aiko jumped down from the rock, and again, she took him by the wrists and looked directly into his dark eyes.

"Oh, come on. Thanks to you and your strong heart, the magic of the island will bring a long life to this world... but at something else's expense."

Sparky was almost on the edge of smiling, but as soon as he heard her last two words, he soon started to shiver. That left him to release his grip from her, before blurting out from his jaws with a strong amount of fear brought inside his fur and wings.

"What do you mean?"

"You mean..." Neo gulped. "My demise isn't too far?"

"I doubt that it will be a human based demise", whispered Aiko. "But still, if we want to make the prophecy come true, it's time we got round to facing the music."

She then looked on at the tunnel ahead of them, still leading into a deeper tunnel of darkness. Then, she looked up - all that could be seen were stalactites, and more bats. The sound of shuffling could be heard from up there, occasionally bringing small rocks down to the ground below.

"That's if we can get back up there", muttered Neo in a light tone.

The tunnels started to get even darker as the group progressed their way through. The only light that could possibly be seen was sparkles of the wet surface down beneath them. But it wasn't too long until one of the drops highlighted the edge of a rising bunch of rocks, stuck out from the ground.

"I see a stairway!" Neo shouted.

"So do I!" beamed Gary. "And you know what happens here do we?"

As he said that, he crouched down and placed both of his hands down onto the surface. Soon, the light from the water drop started to shine even more, illuminating a more powerful path of light ahead of them. This left them all starting to smile together.

"Oh, I get it! We eat cheese in tubes, do we?" Snappy gave out a chortle.

"Very funny", Martha shouted at him with anger. "Now get up there!"

Growling, she took a hold of Snappy's arm, and they started heading their way up. As they progressed up the spiral path around them, the rocks started to get much steeper, allowing some of the members to struggle their way up towards the top. Even Jenny couldn't help but end up going far behind the group.

"I don't think my shoes can stand the surface! It feels too rough!"

"So are mine," started Beverley with a quiet voice getting louder, "but you don't see me complaining!"

Lozzy soon resorted to getting behind Jenny. "Me neither! Now get up there you weak thing!"

Angrily, she took a hold of Jenny's arm, and pulled her up the steps. That left her screaming with every step, and on one occasion, one of her heels on her shoes seemed to be on the edge of breaking. Soon, they reached the top, where a tunnel brought into a lighter room was seen ahead of them. They stepped inside one by one, and their faces were dimly lit in the light ahead of them, allowing their eyes to reflect even more within the darkness. They then walked further ahead, and saw something start to shoot out from the ground - an aroma of bright white gas.

"Amazing...!" Neo whispered.

It started to give off a bright electric spark to match its color, before it started to shake and give out a brighter white fog around them. That left him to gasp at the sight of the substance, before he started edging closer, with his hands out towards it. But... Aiko soon rushed to him and held him on the shoulders.

"Careful, don't touch it! You don't know where it's been!"

"Whoops, sorry Aiko!"

That left him to bring both hands down to his side. Then, they sighed and walked their way towards the others, whom all soon made their positions surrounding the chamber. They all gasped at the looks of the substance, before looking at each other square in the eyes.

"So, this has got to be the legendary Lifestream, innit?" asked Crash.

Zephyr gave out a lengthy sigh. "Sounds like something from a Squaresoft game if you ask me."

Sighing, he folded his arms and trailed his way towards a wall, with his long white hair starting to trail behind him in the draft surrounding him. Meanwhile, the others took a step closer, careful not to touch the sparks in their full form. The light from it started to reflect across their own clothes and bodies.

"It seems like it's brimming with a whole load of magical power!" Whispered Crunch. "So... delicate! But... why do you think Tiko wants it?"

"Perhaps to become a Sephiroth try hard? Or to start off his own mini-Shinra?"

"What are you talking about, Zephyr?" said Snappy with a shrug

"I said it once and I'll say it again - you'll find out come ninety-bloody-seven!!!"

The shouting soon caused both Crunch and Snappy to fall to the floor backs first. Then, Zephyr angrily made his way with anger towards them, with his tail twitching in a furious motion. Then, from further behind them, Spike made his way ahead of the group, with his hands held together.

"Well, let's face it - at least Tiko's not here. So how do we expect to guard this thing?"

"We try by force", Chyna spoke in a low tone. "No other way, but still will work nonetheless."

They gave out a light nod at her remark, although most of them seemed rather reluctant to it. But then, before anything else could happen, some light thuds could be heard from further ahead of them. An opening started to open up at the other side of the room, giving way to a dark tunnel.

"Did you see that?" DJ asked.

Some of the others gave out some light nods, before they started edging in the cave's direction. Suddenly, a shadow started to show itself, making its way further down. That caused them all to start back stepping their way behind them, to the other side of the room. Some of which even held hands for support.

"Looks like we'll be putting this into practice!" exclaimed Sara with a wink.

The shadow then came closer towards them, and jumped out into the opening, before performing a handstand, a cartwheel and a jump towards a ledge nearby. It then showed itself into the full light - a figure that looked just like Sara, but with opposite colored clothing, a small white bobble in her hair, and deep blue eyes. The very figure... of Deksta herself.

"Intruders at three o' clock!"

At that comment, that left the others to look at each other with confusion on their looks. Even Boron seemed to take things one step further and roll across the ground, clutching his stomach and giving out hysterical laughter. That left Deksta to leer at them all, before stepping closer towards the group.

"So, how could you escape my piranha trap?"

Neo gasped. "You set them up? Never mind how we could escape them, we just did! Why did you set it up?"

As he shouted that, he edged his way closer towards them with his hands brought out to either side with anger. He tried to take a second step, but that only dragged his weaker leg across the ground. From behind him, DJ made his walk to him, and started patting him on the leg injury. At its spot, the scratch started to patch itself back together.

"Why do you want to poke your nose into such fishy business?" questioned Deksta with her hair starting to go over her face. "Besides, don't bring your hands onto our precious lifestream."

"It doesn't belong to you, you tramp!!!" brawled Aiko.

Her shouts echoed across the room, and they somehow remained there for a further eight seconds. That left her to leer at her, before she jumped down onto the ground, with her feet landing with a thud and rising dust particles from off the ground.

"Well, how about we just see about that. You, against me."

She pointed at them all, and she edged her way closer towards them. Near Neo and Aiko, both Crunch and Brio stood by their side, leering towards them with cold looks straight towards her. She looked at them, and the lifestream, and then her way of attack could soon be decided upon.

-end of part 6-


	7. The Power of the Lifestream

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Nothing much to say here other than that this part shows a battle against Deksta over the physical properties of the Lifestream force, a close link into Brio's past, and an escape from a secret weapon from their enemies. Bleh. :P

I don't think I mentioned this light Power Crisis reference, but I'll say it anyway. Volcano Isle itself is powered by a magical force known as the "Lifestream". (Yes, I think I shouldn't have pinched Squaresoft's ideas to begin with o.O) That held the source of the magic for DJ and the mages that once lived on the island. But they had to be careful on how they use the energy, because if a human gets infected with the energy – even by TOUCHING a mage – then they can get just as loco as Deksta did in this part. Dood…?

Anyhow, hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

Silence was brought around the cavern area, with both parties leering towards each other for a few seconds. That was until the bright light of the Lifestream caught Deksta's eye. With a smirk, she started to make her way up towards it, rubbing her hands with anticipation.

"Come to me, my beauty!!!"

She soon made her way up close towards the gas-energy. Then, she slipped both hands inside it, where they started to glow a bright white color. She gave out a squeal, before pulling them out - her body was starting to glow with a foggy essence all around her.

"Holy crap!" screamed Aiko. "What's happening to her?"

Neo then started staring at her blankly for a few seconds, before blinking himself. "I don't know, but I can tell it can't be good...!"

She looked on at the mist around her, and started to smirk over at the sight of it, before she spun around, sending bright white flashes out in front of the group. Then, she dived into the energy head first, hiding in there for several seconds.

"She's on an overdose!" Brio exclaimed. "Look out!!!"

They all took a step back, and from the pit, she jumped out with her body being transformed into black and white colors surrounding her, with only her sapphire blue eyes remaining intact. She smirked, before eyeing the group ahead of her one by one.

"Now let's see... which of you should I finish off first?"

She started to pace her way close towards the group, with some of the smaller ones starting to cower with mercy at this point. However, her focus never lied within there, but towards a force to the left of her - the standing figure of Brio, whom just looked at her blankly.

"How about you, Mexican kid?"

"I'm not a Mexican! Leave me out of this!!!"

His shouts echoed across the room, but they were not loud enough to be heard over Deksta's pacing footsteps towards him. She then started to form a bright white bolt onto her hand, before launching it towards him, causing him to duck underneath it.

"I guess she'd rather not..."

The shot hit the wall, and caused a small crater in it, breaking rock particles down onto the ground. They all started to fall down in a crumpled heap, almost trapping them both on their feet. Back on the sidelines, the action started to strike fear towards most of the others.

"Hang in there, Nitrus!" Neo called out. "We'll fish you out of there somehow!"

After the shout, more energy shots were seen hurled towards Brio, whom ducked and rolled under every last one of them, leaving them to cause more craters. Brio's screams started to reach their ears, causing them to start shaking at some stage.

"Let's face it - there's no way we'll ever get him out of a scenario like this one!"

"Don't be so negative, Aiko", said Crunch with courage. "Quick, jump on my back!"

He crouched down, with his hands brought out to his side. That left Aiko to show a face of concern over it, before she finally climbed onto him gently. Then, he stood upright, and made his run towards the pair. But his running caused Aiko to struggle to maintain her balance.

"Steady on! Don't go too fast!"

She ended up releasing grip with one arm. That left her hanging around his neck for a while, before he took a hold of his hair on the back of his head and brought herself up into a piggy back motion around him. Back with Deksta and Brio, the blur of the pair came into their view.

"Ohmigod", she screamed. "What are you doing?"

Crunch brought his hands behind him, and sent himself straight towards her, spinning and sending in simultaneous punches to her jaw. Then, they left her side and skidded before turning around at 180 degrees, facing her with full eye contact once again.

"Let's see what kind of energy you have left in you, ya?" Aiko cried with a smirk.

Smirking, the pair then came closer, and as soon as they were 30 meters away from her, Aiko stood upright onto Crunch's shoulders, and it wasn't too long until she leapt up into the air, and held her hands in a pounding gesture, before sending them towards Deksta's body. But... she was rebounded from her and sent to the other side of the room.

"Sheesh, she's tough!"

"Aiko!!!" Neo bellowed at her.

She landed onto the ground on her back, before sliding and tipping over onto her stomach. That soon caused Neo to rush to her side, and bring her up onto her feet. A gash could be seen going right through the lower part of her t-shirt and the same spot on her back.

"Aiko, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine! It's nothing major, okay?"

With a wink, she ran her way away from him and made her way towards Crunch, Deksta and Brio. Over there, she tried to make her attack, but... almost immediately, the brown bandicoot went right ahead of her and blocked her with his larger body. She tried to push her way in front of him, but... no avail.

"I pretty sure have doubts over this one", Neo whispered to himself.

She still tried to get past him, but on one occasion, Crunch turned in her direction, and pointed towards the left hand side of the room. Sighing with anger, the bandicoot started walking over there with anger, before he turned back towards her opponent, whom was seen with her hands out with rage.

"Here I come, pinky! Step back!"

He then ran towards her and brought out his fists again. Once he brought herself right in front of her, he started punching her like a genuine kick boxer. That left her to be stunned for a while, yet 49 kicks and punches later... he brought his limbs back, only to see no scratches on her opponent at all.

"Such impressive strength...!" Deksta laughed. "But yet... you're still as vulnerable as I expected you to be."

"What do you mean?"

She gave out a smirk, and again, a powerful bolt started to surround her body. She then brought her hands above her head, and from there, an orb the size of a watermelon started to form between them. She leered at Crunch, before jumping up into the air and sending the sphere into his stomach.

"AIEEEEEEE!!!!!"

The strike sent him straight down towards the ground, starting to be surrounded with bright white sparks on him. He was on the edge of passing out at that point. Then, Deksta went to him and kicked him towards the others. The very sight of his injury caused Neo to gasp and crouch down towards his side.

"Crunch! What's happened to you?"

Fowl laughter came out from Deksta's mouth as she edged her way closer to the pair. "I never thought you would lead a bunch of circus clowns into here, young brother. Once we gather the last of the supplies for the machines, the Spiro-Cannon will be complete!"

It seemed that something struck Neo in the side of the head - another clue brought into the pack. Machines in the factory. Hunting for magic at Volcano Isle. The energy from Sparky's stone cell. And now a weapon from the group. The thoughts of it rebounded within his very mind, as he tried to figure out the reasoning behind it all.

"The Spiro-Cannon?"

"Too bad you won't live to see it", she sneered.

With a smirk, she brought herself close towards him, and in a flash, a bright orb started to form in her hands. This time, she brought it into her hands, causing it to take a more solid form. Then, she was about to send it out forward to him, with her elbows getting straighter with every passing second. But then... the sound of a roar was heard from right behind her. That caused her to aim her shot towards the ceiling, causing a few rocks to land near them. They dashed out of the way of them, looking on at the origin of the roar. And then, right ahead of them, stood a figure with piercing green skin, gigantic muscles and gnarling jaws for teeth. His clothes were badly ripped, and he was twice as big as Deksta.

"Bugger me!!!" she squealed. "What's happened to this guy?"

The monster then started to pace her way towards Deksta, with drool starting to drop down to the ground. The sight of it caused her to start shaking, with the mist surrounding her starting to get more denser than beforehand. But she wasn't the only one being afraid - most of the others took cover behind others, looking on at the figure.

"Okay, can someone explain to me what's going on?" screamed Aiko with a nervous voice.

"To cut a long story short..." Neo paused. "That's a mutant form for Brio!!!"

Aiko gave out a scream, before she soon covered her face with both hands. Right in front of them, the beast leant its body towards Deksta's, whom seemed to be doing the limbo to escape from its clutches. It sent a hand down, which caused her to roll out of the way of the attack.

"But..." Crunch's jaw dropped. "How can he face such a form like that?"

The rest of the group started to shrug at him. Neo almost raised his mouth to speak to him, but... that was interrupted by a thud back with the pair. At that point, the beast ended up bringing Deksta up towards a wall, whom seemed to start trembling across her knees.

"I may look scared, but inside, I'm saying that your attacking methods are reckless!"

She growled over at him, before she performed a side step to her left, with her hands out with anger. Then, they started circling each other. Their footprints - Deksta's smaller but deeper ones, and Brio's larger but shallower ones - started to take a more present form as time passed.

"Now stay back from me!"

She then sent out a bright energy beam that looked like a thunderbolt from her hand. It came hurling its way towards Brio's body, before it struck him in the heart. Then... it vanished, without leaving a single scratch upon him. He started coming closer towards her, whose lower lip begun quivering.

"That seemed more powerful than I thought...! Oh well, how about I pick on someone my own size?"

As she said that, she leered towards Neo and the others, whom all starred back at her. She started making her run towards them, with her hands brought back, gathering bright particles of energy into them. That left them to look at each other, with worries on the attack brought to their minds.

"Is there anything that we can do?" asked Neo to Aiko.

"Why are you looking that anxious for? How about we let nature run its course!"

She stood still with her arms folded, and a sneer starting to develop down her body. Meanwhile, Deksta started to come closer towards them, and she was about to launch the beam out towards them, but... before her hands got past her hips, she was then raised into the air, with her arms spread out like a star.

"Hey, what's happening to my body? What's with the levitation here?"

She was then sent spinning around like a Ferris wheel up and down the room. Her screams started to echo right across the room, causing her to show a heavy amount of hesitance in her body. Back with the others, they looked around for the source of the action... until they saw Aiko looking on at her with glowing red eyes.

"Aiko?" Crunch looked at her with awe. "Did you do that?"

She didn't respond. She remained as still as a statue, with her eye contact following that for Deksta's. Then, she brought them in the direction of Brio, whom stood there with his claws out with a growl of anger shown right through his jaws. She started to scream at the glimpse of her being leered towards him.

"What are you trying to pull? Come on, at least give me a chance to counterattack, you pussie!"

She then attempted to wriggle herself, free, but... it was hopeless, for her. Then, she was soon brought face to face with Brio, whom gave out a bite across her stomach, and sending both jaws down towards her, sending a light trail of blood across the ground. He then came closer towards her, whom can only lift her head up weakly.

"That's the spirit!" cheered Neo. "Now finish her off!"

With a smirk, it brought back both of its claws, and pounded them both deep onto her chest, sending her sky high like a rocket. As that happened... she started to reclaim confidence within herself, and jumping her way up towards a high ledge somewhere, where she landed safely.

"You may have thrashed me this time, but you're not going to get away with that one!"

She then ran away from the scene, leaving her scarred stomach clutched with pain. As soon as she vanished, Brio was seen looking up at the tunnel, breathing lighter and lighter... before a light flashed around him, and his normal form was brought back. He then collapsed from exhaustion, with his hands out in front of him.

"What... happened to me?"

He then turned to the right, and saw the others coming up towards him. Boron was first to reach his side, and once there he pulled his partner up onto both feet. He then looked on at the others, and from there, he knew that there was a story to be told.

---

It wasn't long until all the events of the battle were reenacted into Brio's mind. That left him to give out a nervous twitch at the sound of almost every single action that took place. Then, he brought his head forward, and raised his jaws to speak.

"So that's what happened, was it?"

"Yep. But..." Aiko gave out a sigh. "How can you face such a form?"

"I don't know much about it myself, but I'll tell you what I know."

He walked far away from the group, with his back turned against them. He then faced the pit of the lifestream in the center of the room, with the light of it glowing towards his face. He gave out a light smile, before he soon turned his way to the others.

"Oh yeah, like this'll be good to hear, ya?" muttered Crash as he placed his hands on his head.

"From as far as I can remember," Brio started, "I've remembered having the ability to transform into this monstrous form. There's only one thing that I can possibly link to my origin, and that's my own father."

Neo blinked. "What do you mean?"

"He was a scientist. He told me that he used to develop new technologies for a brighter tomorrow."

A scientist. The very word of it struck fear into Sparky, causing him to fall onto his stomach almost instantly. Some of the others seemed fascinated, while Crash and Crunch just stood there, exchanging blinks and concerned glances towards one another.

"Then..." Brio's lower lip started quivering. "He retired into racing. And that's what he did until his passing."

Upon his last sentence, he turned towards the pit again, with a nervous twitch brought onto his eyes. That left some of the group to look sorry for him, approaching him with gentle steps. Crunch soon went further than everyone else, and was the first to place his hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I know you may be confused on your thoughts on the whole beast formation thing, but we'll help you deal with it."

His saying caused Brio's eyes to shoot open. He then looked up at the brown bandicoot, before giving out a curious glance to him. And without any more thought, he raised both hands and brought them against his biceps.

"You really mean that?"

Crunch gave out a light nod, before walking back towards the others. As he did that, he left behind light footprints within the ground. As soon as he was between both sides equally, he brought his head to the left and smiled.

"As soon as this is over, the wisdom of the island will probably explain it all to us."

His head soon turned fully back towards Brio, whose face started to quiver. Nothing could be present at first, until a light smile started to form on his lips. And it got wider... and wider... and wider! Then, he started to shed a tear, before going closer towards Crunch.

"Thanks, pal."

In almost a brief second, he brought his arms around the brown bandicoot, whom somehow ended up with a warm feeling brought inside him. The thought of a grown man in his time, seeking for warm comfort when younger, caused him to smile with him. But then... the peace and love was soon interrupted by something shaking from up above. Almost instantly, they faced the ceiling, where they saw a small stalactite fall to the ground... in Boron's direction, before striking him on the top of the head.

"OUCH!" the wolverine screamed.

"Wait a second..." Jenny's eyes shrank. "How can a rock fall from a toughened ceiling?"

She blinked, before looking up. Upon focusing her eye contact upon there, another rock started to fall down, this time towards her feet. Before they could touch her, she screamed and took a backwards step out of the way.

"And another?" Lozzy shouted. "Geez, this can't be good...!"

Several more started to fall down, still at the pace of one at a time, each of which almost making contact with several members of the group. Then, they started to come in a more furious pace, with several falling down at once.

"Just what in the name of Freddie Mercury is going on?!?" cried Snappy as one almost struck his tail.

Most of the others gave out nervous shrugs upon hearing his words. Then, they looked back up, where a spec of moonlight started to show upon the ceiling. That caused them all to gasp at the sight of it, before stepping even further back. The opening became larger and larger, expanding into full size. That caused them all to gasp at the glance of what was outside, other than red skies, the moon and a bunch of sparkling stars. A large machine with a nozzle swung its way out into view, shining a bright metallic sea blue color.

"Is that..." Beverley started to shake her legs like jelly. "...a part of the Spiro-Cannon that Deksta mentioned?"

Most of the others started to gasp upon the sight of it. Then, something started to extend from the machine - a long ladder. It went straight towards the right, and it wasn't too long before it stopped moving. Then, two shadows walked their way across it.

"Look!" Gary pointed at them. "I can see Tiko and N-Trance making their way up! Something really bad is gonna happen here!"

"Calm down, Gary! We can stop them!" exclaimed Martha with a jump.

She gave out a bright smile from her face as she spoke. But... that was until the machine started to shake. It then swung around 180 degrees, before pointing straight down towards the group. That left them to start quivering.

"Not when they're ready to point the finger at us!" brawled Sara. "Quick, look out!"

Sparky gave out a light squeal. "I can't watch!"

The nozzle started to glow a bright cyan color, taking in energy particles and forming a light as big as four television sets squashed together. Then, it started to shake with every passing second, changing into a bright red color. Steam started to rise from the gaps within the metallic panels on the machine, and then, the nozzle brought itself open, sending a bright beam hurling down towards the group. That caused them all to gasp, before it missed them and caused a large crater in the ground.

"RUN!" screamed Spike.

That caused them to start dashing away from the site and through the tunnel where Deksta made her entrance. The tunnels started to get much higher in height as time passed, with the darkness increasing... until the sunset came into the view of their eyes.

"I can see the exit!" said Neo as he pointed at it. "Quick, run faster!"

They started pacing much brisker towards the end of the tunnel, before they all jumped out together. While that happened, Martha landed with a light thud on the sandy shores beneath her, before a rock landed right in front of her.

"I think it trapped my foot!"

"Not today!"

With courage, DJ turned back in her direction and ran to her. He then placed both hands down on the rock, and picked it up like it was a loose tooth. That caused her to give out a smile and start running back to the others.

"Wow, thanks!"

DJ gave in a twitch of the eyes and mouth, before looking around and seeing the view of the seashores around him. Then, he paced his way to the others, whom all brought their eyes up and down the shores for one reason or another.

"Oh great..." Zephyr kicked a pebble across the ground. "Can anyone see our boats here?"

"To the right!" screamed Chyna.

She pointed over to an oar that stuck out near a cliff face. Then, they went closer to it, and saw four boats out in full view. They smiled over at them, before looking back at Chyna, whom wagged her tail at the glance of the vehicles.

"Wow, good job!" smiled Zephyr. "Where would we be without you?"

They then ran into the boats one by one - Neo leading one pack, Crash leading another, Gary dealing with another, and Jenny taking the final lead post. Then, they started rowing out together, getting at a faster pace than their arrival.

"Keep on going!" shouted Aiko. "I don't think we're fast enough to dodge the shots!"

She pointed over towards the cannon, which can be seen right at the very top of the island, with its nozzle aimed straight towards them all. A bright shot was brought towards them all, almost striking the sides of the boats, but... snapping something in Snappy's hands.

"My oar!"

"Hang in there, Snappy!" cried Neo as he dropped his oar. "I'll see if I can fix it!"

The sight of it caused him to run to his side, and lift the oar into the air, where the paddle was seen snapped off. He brought his hand into the water and fished it out, and then he picked up a piece of string to tie it back onto it. That left Snappy to look over the side, with his reflection showing in the seawater.

"Oh great! I may hate to see piranhas swimming near us by now, but it's better than nowt."

Hesitating slightly, he placed his hand in the water, and started using it as an oar. Several seconds later... he suddenly brought it back out, seeing his skin start to turn blue with cold blood. At the other side of their boat, Brio pointed ahead and saw it coming towards the place they started at - the city harbor.

"We aren't too far from the shores!" Brio cheered. "Just keep on going and we'll be back in no time!"

He smiled over at the sight, before he raised his oar even higher and started rowing at a fast pace, almost knocking Boron over with the handle. Then... something caught his eye - something started to shine on the tip of the volcano.

"Whoa, would you look at the size of the shot coming this way?"

The shout caused them to turn towards Crash's direction, where they saw him and Crunch rowing as fast as Brio, sending heavy splashes as they did so. Then, they turned back ahead, where the white spark was launched, getting bigger as it came closer. Then, it started diving down towards them, illuminating their faces.

"No kidding!" Neo started shaking with fear. "It's aimed directly towards us all! Look out!!!"

Most of the girls started screaming, and tried to row as fast as the others, coming closer towards the harbor. They were only thirty meters away, when the ball came closer to them than ever before. And then... it struck the waters, sending a large wave over them, blocking their views and sending them into darkness.

-end of part 7-


	8. Secrets of the Factory

-AUTHOR NOTES-

This'll probably be the last part I'll put forward before going on vacation. This particular one is more of a tense one, following the events of what happened after the previous chapter. Follow Neo and Snappy as they try to escape their "cell" in Tiko's factory, reunite with an old friend, hunt for their companions and face a Ghost Train of a cart track.

The role of another past Power Crisis character is shown here, this time being in the form of Aurora Muse. In said story, she was portrayed as another mage that lived on Volcano Isle, but she used her magic for a different purpose rather than healing. She used it to draw moving realistic artwork (like in Harry Potter) for the Daily Shout, the isle's main newspaper, which expanded itself to the rest of the state by the end of the story.

I hope you like what I put down. See you with another part in two weeks!

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

Neo's eyes both were brought open lightly, and only a very pale moonlight can be seen ahead of him. The very blur of his surroundings caused him to rise up slowly, rubbing it slowly. Then, he stood on both legs and looked around at his surroundings.

"Whoa... where am I?"

He took a few silent steps within the ground, leaving behind a small shadow within the darkness almost surrounding him. All that could be made out was the dim reflections on the walls and a light white light from his jacket. He was about to walk further, when... something rustled in the background.

"You ain't the only one askin' that question, Neo-dude", said a voice.

"What? Who goes there?"

He quickly turned to the right, and there was no one there. Then, he looked to the left, and that was where he saw a pair of bright yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. That caused him to sigh with an irritated look brought upon his face.

"Oh, it's only you, Snappy. What happened to the others?"

"I don't know, but I think that sticking here won't solve this problem."

He then brought his full body into the light, showing himself in a complete form - his green scales, his white shirt, his torn denim shorts, and the bands around his body, all covered in soot marks and scratches. He took a hold of Neo by the hand, and that left them to look ahead.

"So where do you think we are?" Neo asked.

"I dunno, so please, for the love of Pete... GIVE US LIGHT!!!"

Almost like a cry from God, something started to stir up in the ceiling - a tile starting to fall down. It snapped, and as it fell, it struck a window panel, swinging it open and sending in a brighter touch of moonlight into view. That caused him to smile at it.

"Thank you!"

He jumped at the sight, before going towards it. Once there, he got underneath the panel, and pulled himself up, using his legs to drag him up as far as he could go. The view from out the window was brought into his very eyes, and at the sight of it, he frowned.

"I think I have an idea on where we're at...!"

"What can you see?" questioned Neo with a gasp.

"I can see a seashore up ahead, an island in the waters, and a clearer view of the town from here. We gotta be back in Tiko's factory!"

After saying that, he slid down the walls, and touched down on both feet. Then, he faced Neo's direction, and started twitching on his jaws. Then he faced a pipe lying on the ground, and sat onto it with a thud onto it.

"But how can we suddenly get over there from our boats in the water?"

"I dunno," the alligator started, "but something strange is going on, and it's more than the size of that bloody cannon."

He sighed again, and brought his face down towards the metallic floors, with a part of his reflection showing within it. He was left in silence for a few seconds, until a footstep came across the ground. His head shot up to the ceiling.

"What was that?"

Another footstep was heard, and another... and another! That caused him to leap up on both feet, and take a look from his view. Neo, however, just paced up and down the room, looking from left to right every three seconds.

"If you don't come out, then I'll feed you to the ducks and... uh... give your dog to charity? hmmm... that was odd...!"

Neo couldn't help but nod with agreement at that stage. Then, they looked in Snappy's hiding place, and in there, a pair of light brown eyes can be seen in the darkness. That caused him to dash up towards it, before it entered the light for itself. The figure showed itself as a girl wearing long black pants, a creamy t-shirt, a bright blue pair of shoes, and had long black hair to match. She gave in a light smile at the pair, before she came and stepped ever so closer towards them.

"Do you need help?"

Neo looked on at her with a blank look. "Do I recognize you from somewhere?"

"What do you mean?"

She started scratching her head at the sight of it, before she looked towards them both, with her eyes moving up and down them both. Then, it wasn't long until Neo started to give out a smile from his mouth, before holding her on the shoulders.

"Aurora, remember me?"

She gave out a light gasp. Then, she covered her mouth, and looked at both figures in front of her. Memories came back to her - seeing Neo at the last eruption of Volcano Isle, and retreating from the disaster. The thoughts caused her to blink and gasp at her slightly.

"I'm surprised you can remember me after all these years! So, what are you doing here?"

Neo raised his mouth, and soon blurted out the whole explanation of the scenario so far into her mouth. At the end, her eyes started to widen a bit, and she took a light step back, with an illusion of his story brought into her mind.

"I never would have asked! I almost faced the same fate! This building used to be the headquarters for the newspaper, the Daily Shout. And now look what happened - the attack on the city several years back has caused us to move to Jacksonville."

She sighed, and then she brought her head down to the ground, with her hair going over her face. The sorrow soon started to show in Neo's face, and he crouched down to her level, bringing his hand up and down her back. She then raised it back to his level, with hope coming back to her expressions.

"Still, I hated to see this building show up as a right mess."

"Me too", Neo spoke with a twitch on his nose. "That's why we're here, to see what kind of bad use this is in."

They then ended up walking closer towards a door. Snappy took a hold of the knob, and tried to twist it, but... it broke in his hands. Then, the sound of a blade being taken out was heard from behind them. They looked in that direction, and saw Aurora with a crafts knife in her hand.

"Maybe I could help you after all" she smiled.

---

Meanwhile, in another part of the warehouse, the sound of whirring can be heard as white balls of energy were seen going along conveyor belts, shining with bright lights on them. Some of which were taken to the base, and started to dissolve on a machine to the left hand side of the room, forming a cannon, growing in size. Nearby, Tiko smiled at it, until a figure walked from behind him - that for N-Trance.

"Tiko, sir! How goes the plans for the Spiro Cannon's transfer?"

"We're almost there! Almost all its energy has been transferred here!"

He pointed over at the direction of the cannon, continuing to grow. At that point, it was already ten feet tall in height. Smiling, he pressed a nearby button and a hatch opened up on a ceiling. He blinked over at it as the moonlight was brought down onto it.

"Then what exactly are we planning to do with it?" the 'pink egg' questioned.

"We will set the city into a day like no other, so just watch it."

He then folded his arms, and turned away from him for a while, before walking his way towards the back of the room. Then... his eyes shot open again. He turned over to N-Trance, with his green eyes starting to shake with curiosity and rage at the same time.

"Besides, did you take care of all them brats?"

"I'm not sure. I could only find about a pair of them. Your bro and his alligator. Can't find the rest."

His brother and his alligator. The thoughts of them reached Tiko's mind... of course! He's locked Neo and Snappy! That caused him to smile at it with his eyebrows looking down at a vile gesture. Then, he turned around, with his hair swinging around his shoulders.

"Don't panic, they'll be around somewhere."

His hands both clutched each other tightly as he walked his way back down the corridors. Meanwhile, N-Trance's focus remained on the machine, which soon reached 12 feet tall. From nearby, some sets of eyes can be seen behind shadows for some of the machines. One of them poked its head out into the light - its ginger hair and blue eyes showed her in full view - the figure for Martha.

"I can't believe they got him...!" she whispered with a tear coming down her eye.

---

Back at the cell, the door was soon cut down, with a large curved hole brought through it. From inside, Neo, Snappy and Aurora climbed out in a straight line, and looked on at the dark corridors ahead of them, with the only light sources being from the windows.

"So where's the nearest exit from here?" asked Neo.

"It could seem a bit risky," whispered Aurora, "but I think I know somewhere up these steps!"

She pointed over at a landing nearby. And near it showed a small circular stairway with a pipe driven down in the middle of it. Some of the bolts tied into it looked like they were about to fall off, and most of the metal panels used were covered in high quantities of rust.

"I don't think they look safe for a grown man like myself", brawled Snappy, taking several steps back.

"Awww, relax and let's get up there!" Aurora jumped.

She pointed up at it and smiled, and started climbing up herself. The sound of her feet on the steps gave off light creaks among the surface, sending chills up and down the males' spines. With a slight bit of hesitation, they started climbing up too, but... a snap was heard.

"Eap!!!" Neo screamed.

He looked down, and saw that the step he was standing on was starting to shake. Then, he leapt up onto the stair above it, and saw it collapse onto the ground with a giant clank given off upon landing. That left him to start panting at the very glance of it.

"Phew, that was close!"

"I never thought that could happen", quivered Aurora.

She then started to shake back at the action, before she turned back towards the others, whom climbed closer towards her. Then, the second step started to stir... and the third... and the fourth... until almost everything started to rumble around them uncontrollably.

"It's starting to shake!" she squealed. "Quick, run to the top!"

She started making her way over there, and so did the males, all three of them pushing their way to the top of the stairs. A few more turns later brought them to a ledge twenty meters above their starting point. Over there, Snappy was the first to land there, and while that happened... the stairs started to topple over.

"I got you both, hang on!"

He brought his hands out towards Neo and Aurora, whom were both being dragged further and further away from him. Then, he leaned closer and took a hold onto their hands, before leaning back and pulling them in, leaving the stairs to collapse on the ground like one long tower. They looked down at the sight, and saw dust particles rise into the air from the fall. Then, they looked at each other and started making their way to another door. Inside there, they were greeted by a small mine cart on an old-fashioned rail line, with two dark holes on either side of its course.

Neo started to look at it with deep interest. "Would you look at the size of that thing...!"

"Yeah, I never thought I'd see that the underground would be connected by such a network", she blinked.

She then started to walk up towards it, and bring her hands among the surface of it. Then, she removed them, and saw her handprints brought upon it. She looked at her own hands, and saw them covered in more dust. This left Snappy to leer at it with his hands on his hips.

"Go figure, it had to be as old fashioned as my grandma."

"But look at it", shouted Neo with confidence. "If that's a ticket out of here, then that's better than nothing!"

He then smiled over at it, before he brought himself towards the back and tried to bring himself inside, but... he had difficulty on climbing in - that much he ended up slipping on the surface onto his back. From his position, he saw Snappy looking down to the ground. With that, he slowly got back up.

"What's the matter?"

"What about the others?" asked the alligator. "I'm worried about them!"

"They shouldn't be too far, so keep your eyes peeled for them at all times!"

He gave out a light smile as he tried to climb in again. This time... he ended up bringing himself in with success. He started to smile over at the space inside - enough for three - and the metal hinges brought on the tip, giving off moving images of the room every few seconds... moving images? He brought his head out, and saw the mine cart moving away from Snappy and Aurora!

"Uh-oh, what's going on?"

"Snappy!!!" Neo cried out.

He reached his hand out towards him, but... he couldn't seem to get a hold onto him. That caused them both to start running towards him, getting closer towards him, but... as they did so, the cart started to move much faster. That caused him to start squealing with panic, with increasing tension brought between both sides.

"Sheesh, can't this thing ever slow down?" panicked Snappy.

Aurora soon rushed to him from behind. "It's okay, I got you!"

With that, she started to run much faster than Snappy, with her hair starting to trail upon the wind. She then brought out both hands towards Neo, whom grabbed them both safely... but as fate predicted it, the speed was that rough for her she ended up being pulled into the cart herself, chest first.

"Whoa!"

She brought her head up, and saw Neo's eyes look directly towards hers. Then, this left them to look ahead as they started speeding down one of the tunnels. Snappy tried to run towards them, but... he wasn't fast enough. He stood near a stairway, and while he was there he brought back his hands and placed them against his jaws.

"Don't step into the light Neo, don't step into the light!"

His shouts were brought down the tunnel, leaving them to echo for five seconds. Then, he started to go down the steps himself. Back with Neo and Aurora, they were brought in a dark tunnel, with dim green lights being brought in their way, lighting up their faces and some of their clothes slightly.

"Where are we?" asked Neo.

"I don't know, but..." She paused. "It looks like some sort of ghost train or something!"

She then stood up, and looked around at the view. Nothing much can be seen around her, other than the lights of the tunnel around her. As they went further, the carriage started to slow down. That gave Neo the chance to look through her legs at... a package near the back of the cart.

"Then what explains the nuts and bolts at the back?"

She then blinked, before she crouched down and looked at the nuts and bolts for herself. That left her to start scratching her head with a slight bit of confusion brought upon her. But then... the light soon started to turn into darkness, only lighting up the irises of their eyes.

"I think we may need to forget about it for the time being - we're at the end of the road!"

She gasped, before she turned around, and so did Neo. Then, almost by surprise, a pair of doors swung open, letting a cold mist pass through their skin. The cart went through the door itself, and it brought them into a large room. They looked down at the sides of the cart... and saw that it was to face a vertical drop down.

"Holy mutton on a stick!!!" he cried out with his eyes widening.

In almost a split second, the carriage started to go over the edge, and start hurling its way down the vertical drop. Like in a fairground ride, they both screamed, with their hair and clothes flapping in the draft it went past. A whole bunch of strobe lights started to flash in every direction, mainly red, blue and green.

"I don't think I'm gonna survive in this boat much longer!" cried Aurora. "I can't keep still in this thing!"

"Neither can I, so keep your knickers on!"

In an instant, the cart reached the bottom of the slope and shot up another. Then, right ahead of them, they entered another room. And right in the middle of it was a large loop-the-loop in the carriage. Neo's eyes widened at it, while Aurora's face turned emerald green with fear.

"Oh no...!"

She closed her eyes tightly, while Neo held onto the sides of the carriage, keeping her locked in like a seatbelt at the same time. Then, they started to head up the side and hang upside down for no longer than 3.6 seconds, before speeding back down and leaving the room, with the doors slamming shut behind them.

"I can't believe we just did that!"

"Neither can I," Neo started, "but that's saying something!"

This left them to sigh with relief, before they went through another set of doors, taking them outside. They went around a sharp corner, seeing the reflection of their actions brought against the water underneath them. Then, they went on another straight, and out of the blur, a figure started to speed its way down a set of stairs.

"I'm coming for you! Look out for Mr Macho Gator here!"

They looked up, and saw Snappy reaching the halfway point of the steps. Then, he reached the bottom when... they suddenly sped past him. He jumped, before speeding towards them, with his tail brought against his back and his feet leaving clawed footprints across the dusty ground beneath them. Then, he was brought to the side of Neo, smiling.

"Snappy!!!"

"Quick, reach my hand!"

He brought out his right hand, and started reaching towards Neo, whom stood up and leaned over the side of the carriage towards him. Even with their best efforts... they couldn't seem to grip each other. Then, Aurora brought her head up and looked at them both.

"Need help?"

Snappy showed a face of confusion, but then... it soon started to turn to a confident smile. That left him to leave Neo's side and start running towards Aurora. She leant close, and brought out her arms towards him. In a more athletic stance, she jumped into his arms.

"I gotcha!"

He then brought her down safely onto both feet. Then, they then made their way closer towards Neo, whom looked at them both with a smile. Both Snappy and Aurora brought out their arms, stretched out towards him, exchanging excited looks across their very faces.

"Okay, now it's your turn!" shouted Snappy. "Let's go for it!"

They then started dragging their arms closer towards Neo's, whom came closer with every passing second. He soon resorted to leaning over the edge while on his tiptoes, but he was a couple of centimeters away from their grasp. He almost had it for a few seconds, until... Snappy went and tripped over a rock, sending Aurora down with him.

"Ouch...!"

"Snappy! Aurora! Don't leave without me!"

Before anything else could happen, a crash occurred behind him, causing a metal panel to be knocked down and the mine cart to spin off course and into a foil wall. It landed upside down, tossing Neo out at the same time and leaving him to land hard onto his back.

"Neo, are you okay?" Snappy screamed with a gasp.

He soon brought himself up from his position and ran closer towards him, with Aurora following him. He jumped over the mine cart, and took a hold of him by the shoulders, whom soon responded by rubbing his forehead back and forth, groaning with a throbbing pain.

"My head hurts...!"

"It's okay, at least we've left that thriller."

He soon brought himself back onto both feet, looking over his shoulder, where he saw Aurora running towards them both. They then walked ahead into a large room, illuminated by a lamp on the ceiling. The room was spread out for ten whole meters, filled with barely anything.

"So, where do you think we are anyway?" she asked.

Before anything else happened, a mysterious voice shouted out "Aurora!"

The cry of her voice caused her to run ahead of Neo and Snappy, looking around at all the corners. Then, in an instant, a showing of a pair of eyes can be seen. And another pair... and another... and many more where that came from! That caused her to gasp and tremble at the glance. Then, they all started coming out from the shadows together. First came Boron, whom jumped out, wriggling his ears and barking with joy. That caused her to scream at his appearance. Then came Brio, bringing his sombrero away from his face, and then came Bev, Gary, Sparky, and... the other members of the group! She started to quiver at some of them, before Neo brought out his hand and waved at them all.

"Guys! You're here!"

Smiling, he went up towards them all, and they all went up towards him. He ended up with a pounce on the chest from Boron and Chyna, several pats on the shoulder from Crash and Crunch, and hugs for joy from Bev and Martha among others. While that happened, Snappy turned towards Gary, whom stood there folding his arms.

"Ah, thanks for the warning Gary!"

"Hey, no problem. Say, how did you break out from your cell anyway?"

The explanation of the scenario came out from Neo's mouth like lightning. Most of the others looked amazed by the whole story, while Bev, Gary, Sara, Jenny and DJ looked on at Aurora, whom seemed to look at them all with blank looks on her face and a pair of shaking knees.

"I think I remember her", Beverley smiled. "Isn't that Aurora Muse, the artist for the Daily Shout?"

She then had to resort to a light nod. Then, expecting a face of fright from her... Bev gave out a broad smile from her face, before she gave her a high five upon her hands. Then, from behind her, Sara walked towards her, with the same face of confidence brought on her partner's.

"You've got some great courage in you. Perhaps you can help us break out of here, and possibly stop Tiko and his plans on the way there."

The whole idea came to her head. She herself can barely remember Tiko as well as Neo, but she somehow knew what he was trying to get at. She reluctantly brought out her hands, and in an instant, she and Sara were brought into a handshake. While that happened, Brio went towards another door, peeking through a keyhole.

"Speaking of which, does anyone have any ideas on what the heck he's doing in there?"

"I think..." Martha paused, sweating down her face. "It's all coming to sense with me!"

Everything started to piece together in her small mind - the generators, the magic of volcano isle, the craftsmanship of N-Trance, the finding of Sparky's stone cell, Aiko's hypothesis and the Spiro-Cannon's creation. They spun around in a brisk pace, until... she ended up falling to the ground, looking faint.

"Martha!!!" Snappy brawled.

He rushed to her side, and looked down at her. She then raised her head up lightly, but instead of a happy and confident face that she mainly had on her, it instead had to show weakness and despair. The others then went towards her, knowing that a dangerous thought has reached her mind.

-end of part 8-


	9. Neo's Will, Cannon's Way

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Yay, I'm back from my vacation. As far as I could see nothing much seemed to happen when I was gone, other than CrAsHlOvEr (or Tsunami90 from DA) managed to join here, the amount of repetitive "being sucked into world of Jak and Dax" fanfiction being on the increase, and Turquoise Phoenix putting forward a lovely MST (not on this site) during the time.

So, yeah, it's time I might as well continue with SR3. And it's in this one that we head into a crucial grudge against Tiko, standing tall and trying to defend his factory for what it was. A bit on the simple side, but has just enough drama to keep suspense going.

I should have uploaded it sooner had it not been for the site's hardware failures last night. But either way, hope you like it.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

A while later, the group left the large room, leaving the light to shine into the darkened corridors ahead of them. Martha stood ahead of the group, looking more optimistic than she was a few seconds beforehand, with her hands getting closer to each other as time passed.

"I think I understand what this is all meaning! N-Trance must have constructed the machines here, ever since we know that Tiko can barely do a thing around here! They needed the magic of Volcano Isle to run on, probably to keep this wrecked warehouse alive again and creating the Spiro Cannon. But I'm not sure about a place for Aiko's saying and the stone."

"It's okay, you'll get there", whispered Neo with a smile.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. That left her in silence, causing her to start twitching her nose in deep thought. Then... she somehow gave out a light jump of surprise. That caused Neo to step back at the sight, giving her room to step forward slightly.

"She said that good causes would reach the island at something else's expense. But... does this mean that the island will be sucked dry of its magic, but be shown as a holiday destination or something?"

Sparky gave out a light growl. "Oh please, would I really want to try something like that to the island?"

The wolarcoot then folded his arms, and started pacing up and down the sides of the corridors, showing a more moody glance than before. Then, he faced the others, whom exchanged thoughtful faces back at him. The thoughts of a holiday destination for Volcano Isle went through Bev's mind, leaving her with a confused look.

"I don't know if that's necessary, but if we have to know the truth we may need to follow our noses."

Most of the others around her gave out light nods of agreement. While that happened, their route started to show a lighter path ahead of them. That caused them to look directly forward, towards a large metallic door, decorated with green strobe lights that flash every two seconds.

"Our answer could lie right there!" beamed Gary. "Come on chaps!"

Smiling, he took a hold of the knob, and the door opened. But... from there, a small gap is seen. They went inside it and squeezed through it one by one. This left them to walk away from it, until... the sound of squeezing caused Crash to turn back, and see Crunch stuck inside it.

"Crunch, what's taking you so long?"

"The door's not big enough! I can barely breathe here!"

He looked over at him, and saw his large muscular chest struggling to fit in the narrow gap. That caused him to sigh at it, before rushing to his side and taking a hold of both of his large muscle-packed arms, pulling them back as far as he possibly can.

"Get here you!"

He then started stepping back as far as he can, starting to budge Crunch up by an inch or so. But... it didn't quite seem to be enough. Then... a few cracks started to show up on the door. He pulled harder still, until the brown bandicoot soon ended up popping his way out like a cork. He landed on the ground with a thud across his body. Once in, the larger door outside swung itself shut, leaving them into a pitch-black room. Only their eyes can be seen lit up in the darkness, making their way around the room only by using touch and hearing.

"Is there anyone here who can eat their pineapples?" asked Lozzy in a low tone.

"What do you mean?" said Sparky in a confused tone.

"I think..." Jenny gave out a pause. "She's meaning if there's someone here who can see in the dark."

As she said that, she stepped further ahead of herself, but... she brought her leg inside a box-shaped compartment. That caused her to lose her balance slightly, before she ended up landing on her back with a thud. This caused some of the others to step back slightly.

"I think I got doubts", muttered Zephyr with a wink.

Before anything else could happen, the room started to light up with a misty purple light. That caused them to look on at their surroundings, and see them in a mission control-like area. The equipment there amazed the majority, while DJ was seen making his way over towards the left, where an opening was seen.

"Look at all this stuff ahead!"

He pointed out through there, and it wasn't long until most of the others came around him. They looked on at the scene ahead, and saw the transfer of the Spiro-Cannon continuing. They faced the direction of the cannon itself, and at this stage it has now shown itself to be thirty feet tall!

"Amazing...!" gasped Snappy. "But... how can this be in such brisk operation?"

"Look!" Aiko shouted.

She pointed over at a nearby balcony to the left, and that was where a large metal bridge leads towards Tiko, whom was seen standing there with his hair moving in the draft inside the cold room. They went to him as quick as they could, and upon their first steps on the bridge, he turned straight towards them.

"Ah, I never thought you'd be able to find me here. But... didn't N-Trance trap you in that cell?"

"Not when I was here, freak!" screamed Aurora.

She rushed ahead of the group and was the first to jump off the bridge, with her crafts knife held into her hand in a tighter grasp than before. The others soon followed her cue, and stood right behind Tiko in a line, each of which leering over at him as fiercely as they ever did before.

"We're starting to understand what you want with the magic of Volcano Isle!" Martha bellowed. "Why is it that you want to drain it like some useless fossil fuel for your own needs?"

She then started to snarl at him, with her hands gripping each other in tight grasps. Expecting a scream back... Tiko actually folded his arms and looked over at her like she was a tiny ant crawling across the ground, ready to be squashed in an instant with his own two boot-wearing feet.

"You seriously must have thought a bit too far ahead of yourself, didn't you little girl?"

"I have a name, jerk!!!"

She tried to rush towards him, but... it wasn't too long until Bev went towards her and took her by the arms, leaving her to trip up onto the ground, landing face first. From there, she looked up into his face with her face starting to turn bright red with rage, anger and uttermost disgust.

"We'll see which of you have the name long enough!" cackled Tiko.

He then rooted into his pockets, and pulled out a pistol. He then aimed it right down towards Martha, whom started to scream with panic at the firearm. But then... his attention was brought over to the Spiro-Cannon, reaching 33 feet in terms of height. That caused him to take a few steps back.

"On the other hand, I think you must have seen way too much for your own good! It's time to wipe the memories from your very minds!"

Neo took a step forward and waved one of his fists in the air before shouting, "You're on!"

He then stood ahead of the group with a smile on his face. He then gestured towards Aurora, Chyna and Martha in order, before looking out towards him with a face filled with part-anger part confidence across it. They then started to circle around the panel, trailing their hair - and in Tiko's case, his cloak - through the wind.

"Come this way!"

He then stood still and gestured with his arms to bring Neo closer to him. With a smirk, he brought back one of his hands and started running towards him, but... before he could inflict damage, Tiko brought out his arms and blocked him, before sending him down to the ground, leaving his limbs in a twist.

"You've faced too much of this! Stay away from him!"

With anger, Aurora rushed from behind him, jumped over her comrade's recovering body and pounded her way towards the top of his head. He tried to pull her off, but... it wasn't until she stood onto his shoulders and pushed him down to the ground on her feet when she finally could do so. He rolled across the ground, and looked back at her.

"My, you fight pretty good for a girl! Let's see how you can cope with this!"

He then went towards a nearby machine with a large aerial, and flipped the switch. It started to sparkle with bright white power, and from there, a bright spark was given out. A thunderbolt was sent down to the ground, almost hitting her feet. Then, more of them came near her, leaving her screaming for mercy.

"It's getting to be too much!"

"Not when Chyna here!" came a shout from behind her.

The wombat-creature pushed ahead of her, and rolled across the ground at a vigorous state, bringing the bolts far away from her and Aurora. Tiko gasped at her skill, before she soon landed, with all four paws firmly onto the ground. She got closer towards her, with a snarl brought onto her face and her tail sticking on end.

"Leave girl alone, or Chyna make mincemeat of Tiko!"

She brought her paws out even further still, and from there, sharp silver claws showed up in there. They shone so much they gave off a light twinkle as soon as it passed any light source around the room. However, it still didn't scare Tiko, as he folded his arms and twitched his jaw towards her.

"You've shown a worthy match of yourself there. But it won't be for long."

Snickering, he pulled back the switch on one machine, and pulled down one from another. This time, it started to shine with a bright red glow, and several flakes were spat out towards the top. They remained there for a while, before a larger set of shapes can be seen quickly making their way towards them all.

"Guys, look out from down below!" shouted Martha with fright.

She pointed over at the shapes, now looking more like they were half as big as the platform. Neo, Aurora and Chyna all looked up at once, seeing the shadows for them expand across the ground. Without question, they ran to the bridge and waited for the shapes to make contact in giant meteor-like forms, giving off a bright red fog around them.

"How close was that?" questioned Neo with shock.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Martha screamed back.

She started to scratch her head at the thoughts of the giant balls, now starting to settle within her mind. Then, from nearby, Tiko made his way towards the others and smirked at them all before getting out his pistol. That caused the four to start running through the fog together, with their vision becoming blurrier.

"Don't go too fast!" panicked Martha.

Her screams echoed, yet they didn't quite listen to her. The more they ran forward, the more the fog started to clear up. It wasn't long until they brought themselves into a corner, facing Tiko, who was there with his pistol out. He was on the edge of pulling the trigger, when... Neo went ahead and took a hold of the nozzle.

"Time for you to meet your maker!"

Smirking, he pulled his hardest, and all of a sudden, the gun flew out of his hands and started flying around the air, spinning at several revolutions a second. Tiko tried to run for it, but... hidden in the fog, Martha stuck her foot out and left him to trip up over the balcony edge, screaming and with his cloak waving around. His cries soon faded into nothing, and that left them all to look over the edge. But... all that could be seen was a large drop leading into darkness. That caused some of the group members to gulp at the sight of it. This left them to look at each other, exchanging concerned looks on their faces.

"Is he..." Neo paused before blinking. "...gone?"

Silence came around them, as they knew that it was too early to get a direct answer. Then, they started to leave the bridge together, and they were about to leave the room for themselves, until... the sound of a gunshot was heard, causing them to turn around back at the scene of the encounter.

The group soon rushed back over the bridge towards the balcony where Tiko fell over. Most of them brought their heads over the side, with their hair going down over the side. This left them to blink over at a bright white fog starting to form twenty feet beneath them.

"What's going on?" Martha shouted, starting to shake.

The fog started to develop more into a swirling cloud, giving off bright white sparks every two seconds. It started to get thicker, and then, a shadow started to float from deep inside it. The figure then floated up towards them, and showed himself as Tiko, but his colors were black and white with only his emerald green eyes intact.

"You thought you got rid of me, didn't you brother?"

Neo tried to speak, but Crash pushed his way ahead of him. "We never had any intensions on doing so in the first place! Now how about we settle this over a cup of WumpaNog, ya?"

He then leant towards the wall and brought a hand onto there, giving off a light smile as he did so. That caused Tiko to look over at him with a look of anger and agitation, before he started floating towards him with his cloak flapping within the draft that passed through him.

"What kind of creature do you think you are?"

He then reached the platform the group was standing on, with his feet ending up two inches above the ground. He brought out his pistol and aimed it towards Crash, but... that was before the sound of a rumble was heard. He turned around, and saw the Spiro-Cannon glowing a bright white color. That caused him to sneer at it.

"Wait! The Cannon is almost finished, so it'll be over before you know it! It was nice knowing you!"

Cackling, he hovered his way towards it, and this left them in silence for five seconds. The cannon soon stopped glowing, and it was then when he twisted a knob, and out from the nozzle of the cannon came several white embers towards the ground, coming towards them like a fuse to a bomb.

"I suggest we run right about now!" ordered Neo in a high tone.

Martha gave out a scream at the sight of the embers - that was their cue to run back over the bridge, far away from the embers. They left behind soot-marked footprints onto the ground, passing through the purple room and out towards the dimly lit corridors ahead of them.

"Quick!" Beverley shrieked. "Get out of the door before the magic burns us!"

She pointed over to the large warehouse door where the group reunited after the mine cart incident. Then, they started heading inside one by one, passing through it. Again, DJ stopped at the door, checking everyone passing through, but... Gary didn't make it. His eyes widened as he looked down the corridors, and saw him hopping his way away from the flames, tying his shoelaces.

"I think it's almost got me!"

"Not when I'm here!" smiled DJ. "Hold onto me!"

He rushed towards Gary with his furry clothes floating in the air. Then, he brought his outstretched hands onto Gary's chest, bringing him onto his back. Then, they ran together, only leaving behind the remains of a shoelace to burn to ashes. He gave out a sigh of relief.

"Whew, thanks!"

They then went through the door together, Gary having to duck underneath the low barrier. Once inside, he jumped off, and then they ran out towards another door nearby. In there, a darkened area can be seen, filled with families of possums. Chyna's eyes widened at the sight.

"Jump in quick!" shouted Martha. "It may look like a pitfall, but it has to be worth it!"

She started to cower slightly, until she brought back her paws and jumped inside the room. The others soon followed, and once inside, Sparky's hands lit up in the darkness, showing their way down a dark and damp tunnel. Their run was left in silence for a while, until... stirring can be heard from the sides of the room.

Aiko quickly turned around. "Uh-oh, I think I can see monsters lurking in here!"

"Not when I'm here!"

With a smirk, Zephyr brought his hands behind him, and pulled out a bright blue light saber. He then ran towards the left of the room, and that was where a panther-type creature with wings jumped up onto him. He sent his saber down to it, pounding it to the ground and kicking it back into the darkness. Then... another one came from behind.

"Take that!"

He twirled his saber in a majorette stick fashion, before sending it down towards the creature, bringing it off its feet and back into the darkness. He started to smirk at the sight of it, with his tail wagging at the sight of it. But... it was soon pulled down to the ground by another creature.

"Hey, mind the tail!"

He looked towards it and sent his saber straight towards it, sending it down to the ground, with a bruise starting to form on the top of its head. Then, he ran back with the others towards a light at the end of the tunnel - a bunch of mine carts were seen leading outside and around the factory.

"Quick, take the carriages!" Aurora shouted as she held onto the side of one of which. "It'll probably be faster than us!"

She jumped in it, with most of the others jumping in random carriages after her. Then, they started to move at a gradual pace at first, before heading down a slope towards the ocean. They reached the bottom and started speeding along the path... but so were the flames - as Jenny looked behind her, they were seen coming their way up the track.

"It's almost caught up with us! I don't think we're going to make it!"

"Oh yes we are!" Spike said as he took a hold of her hair. "Be confident on yourself!"

He pulled her face back forward, and that was where they took a sharp turn towards the right. They gave out screams, before holding on tight and making the turn. As she predicted, the flames got closer to them and started to burn underneath the carriages, causing them to shake uncontrollably.

"Hold on tight!" Lozzy closed her eyes tightly. "I think we're about to capsize in this bloomin' thing!!!"

She held on tight, with her teeth gritting as tight as they can. They saw themselves going over a stretch of water, starting to illuminate bright platinum down beneath them. They held onto the sides of their carriages, trying to keep balance... until the front one had one of its front wheels dropped off.

"Steady on!" panicked Crunch. "I can't hold on much longer!"

And so he seemed right - most of the other carts started to face the same torture. They faced another corner, and they went around it, but... instead of staying on, they all flew off and spun around as they headed down towards the water, the whole group expecting an early shower, if not instant demise.

(scene fades to white and blends in)

In a back street somewhere, a figure was seen making a walk towards the ocean. It soon brought its figure into the light - a man in a large brown trench coat, big shoes, scruffy brown hair and same colored eyes. He had a smile brought upon his face, until... he ended up with one of his feet going against a lump in the ground.

"What is this?"

He then crouched down to its level and brought his hand down towards a lemon yellow stone. He blinked over at it, and brought an eye closer to it. All that he could see in there is its marble-like pattern. He then shrugged and placed it in his pocket. He walked closer towards the shores, but... he saw Volcano Isle turning a black and white color.

"I don't believe this...!"

It started to shake, continuing to flash a random color every second. Then, the sound of whirring brought his attention - he looked towards the factory, where the Spiro-Cannon was seen being brought out of the roof, standing as tall and mighty as it ever did. He gasped at the sight of it.

"What on Earth is that?"

A bright flash started to occur from it. Then, the nozzle started to shake, and a bright ball of light started to form in there, before being shot out and aiming straight towards the island at a furious pace. It struck it, and as soon as the light cleared, it then showed up as nothing more than a mountain of ashes among the ocean. He panicked at the sight of it, and he tried to rush to it himself, but... he tripped up, and looked over at five rail carriages stuck among the shoreline. He brought his nose over to a hand sticking out from the wrecks, sniffed it, and his eyes shot open.

"I'll get you out of there, I promise!", he shouted before he started pulling the figure out from the wrecks.

-end of chapter 9-


	10. The Rebirth of Volcano Isle

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Okay, so there's not a lot of action in this part, but it is made up for by a more reflective part leading all the way up to the final segments. The road to a return to Volcano Isle is now showing on the group, and it's time to take care of business from here on.

There are two things I may need to expand upon before going into the part, and the first of which will be the origins for Taylor Yellow, or the rescuer of the group from the mine cart wreckage. In the second of my old Power Crisis stories, he was originally one of the main Navy commanders, but that was until he got sacked because he forgot to pay his boss for travel expenses. After that he was seen on Neo's side, trying to find a way to fight back against his boss's rash decisions.

Plus the whole thing with Zephyr's origins… yes, it has been shown that he IS Cortex's "Zephyr Project" as shown at the epilogue for Galaxy of Europe. I can't help but make a reference back to there.

Anyhow, hope you like this… and the random Titanic reference floating near the end. :P

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

The view around Neo's eyes started to take a blurred form for a while, until they started to show a clear view of a ceiling with a chandelier on it. He took a light turn to the right, and saw his face facing the cushions of a sofa. Then, he turned to the left, and saw the same figure on the back streets standing there, minus the trench coat.

"Had a nice rest?" he asked.

He gave out a smile towards him, and started to approach him. The very actions of him caused Neo to sit up rather quickly, offering the figure room to sit down. He then placed his back against the cushions gently, before looking over at him with his almost wood-like brown eyes.

"Wha..." Neo struggled to get the words out of his mouth. "...who are you, and what are we doing here?"

That remark caused the figure to widen his eyes slightly. Then, he looked towards a small cabinet to the right of the room, and walked over to it. He opened the door, and pulled out his trench coat, bringing it over his body in exactly seven seconds. Neo raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"It's a surprise that you can't remember a guy like me", the figure spoke. "Remember the name 'Taylor Yellow'?"

Taylor Yellow. Yes, that name could spring back an old memory, he thought. With Lozzy and Aiko making their way to him in the same way as him, he was almost bound to know a former member of the US Navy for sure. He then brought his mind back to reality and opened his mouth to speak.

"I think I do, although... the last time I saw him was several years back."

"Well today's your lucky day," he said with a rising tone, "because he's right back here."

He pointed over at himself, before making his way back towards the sofa, his trench coat almost spreading the whole of the sitting surface. That caused Neo to jump off and back step his way, with his back leaning against a large set of bookshelves. Once there, he looked on at him, and had eyes widened.

"You mean... you saved us? Every last one of us?"

Silence came between them, and it wasn't too long until Taylor broke it with a nod of the head and a scratch of his feet against the carpet. Neo looked on at him, with his shocked face starting to quiver. Then, it started to transform itself, into a broad smile, filled with joy and surprise.

"I'm so happy for you!"

He rushed towards him, and gave him an instant high five across his hand before patting him on the back. He then sat down next to him, almost looking like two parakeets sitting up on a high tree in a rainforest. They looked at each other, knowing that hope has come back to their hearts.

"It's a pleasure to have you back in my sight, Neo Cortex", Taylor spoke with a twinkle in his eye.

"Thanks, but... where ARE the others anyhow?"

"They're just outside, waiting for you."

He pointed towards a large set of glass doors, leading towards a stone garden behind them. Neo gave out a light smile, stood up, and gave out one last wink at Taylor before he walked out of the doors himself, with his body being eclipsed by the bright 10AM sun ahead of him. The outside of the gardens was filled with beautiful flowers and shrubs. Once there, Neo took a walk to the far left, and looked down - he saw what looked like a 50ft drop, meaning that the garden was right at the very top of the penthouse. He looked ahead again, and saw the others looking at him with excitement.

"Neo, you're here!"

"Wow, I never thought you'd survive the crash!"

Both Gary and Martha ran up towards him, with the latter giving him a warm hug across the chest. That left him to blush at the sight of it, before looking over at Gary, whom patted him on the shoulders back. He soon broke free from his grasp from Martha, and sat down in a space between Beverley and Sparky.

"It's funny to say this," Neo started, "but I can barely remember how we fell from the mine carts to the ground."

Bev gave out a light giggle. "Neither can I, but be proud that we're still here."

"Aye, there's still life in the old dogs left!" Sparky jumped with a grin. "We still have the time to restore order around here!"

He looked over at the ocean in the distance - from there, Volcano Isle can barely be seen; only its shadow seemed to pass its way beyond a view from the left. Most of the others looked on at it with determination, while... Neo's face was brought further up the garden, looking elsewhere.

"Whatif this boat only runs on happy faces?"

"What do you mean?" Martha questioned.

He pointed over at another wall, where Zephyr was seen looking down. Spike was near him too, giving him what seemed like a back massage and talking to him in an assuring voice. Without any second thoughts, he stood up and walked his way towards him, with his right hand brought out, gesturing as he spoke.

"Zephyr, what's the matter?"

There was no response from him. Spike, however, looked into his eyes, and almost immediately sat down on a wall. Neo too sat down near the pair of them, with his eyes starting to twinkle within the sun. He soon made direct eye contact with Zephyr, whom started to shake at the glance.

"Tell me about it, please", Neo said in an assuring tone.

"Okay, I'll say it to you. I wasn't born from my mother."

The remark caused Neo to respond with widened eyes. Then, he looked over at Spike, whom gave in a light nod of the head, verifying that Zephyr was telling the truth. That caused Neo to give in a twitch of the jaw, before bringing his face forward towards him, shaking in the palms of his hands.

"But if that what you said is true, then... you must have emerged here a bit differently to the rest of us!"

Spike's eyes shot open at his actions. "Neo, don't play house doctor, whatever you do!"

He made his way towards him, bringing his hands out to his chest, but... in the nick of time, the dingodino was caught by the face and was brought back to his seat, leaving them both to look at each other for a while, before they both leaned back among the grass turf beneath them.

"So, what kind of life DO you have?" asked Neo.

"A stupidly short one", sighed the blue fox.

"What did you just say to me?"

"He's a genetic experiment," started Spike, "so simply put, he's only been around here for a few months."

Neo's face froze with confusion upon Spike's words. "What's this 'genetics' stuff that you're speaking about?"

"You don't wanna know... yet..." the dingodino's smile dropped.

All that Neo could do was look down, with his face puzzling over what is the scene for "genetics". How can a figure like Zephyr be born by something he doesn't know about? Then... he looked up towards Spike, with his face starting to show a lot more confusion than he had to start with.

"So I'll probably save some of this for when I'm older, okay?"

The dingodino gave in a light nod to him, before he brought his back among the grass near him. He brought his feet in the air, and looked on at a bunch of pigeons flying overhead at them. He then gave in a light smile, and brought his head towards Neo and Zephyr, with a cheeky look on him.

"You know that whatever happens here, once Tiko's gone, be sure to let nature run its course for you."

The words started to fill Neo's mind - such strong words from a young boy. They replayed in his mind several times over, and settling in there too were several thoughts in his mind, all anonymous by the others, which he smiled at and started twitching his feet to as the cool air passed through him.

Back in the insides of the factory, N-Trance and each of Tiko's siblings were standing in a room deep in conversation... rather, all except for Lio, whom was seen indulging himself into a watermelon bigger than his body. But then... the door leading into the room opened up at its widest, and Tiko hovered his way in, keeping his black and white colors.

"Tiko, what happened to you?" Hallie squealed.

"I see it as a more natural form", said Deksta in a quieter tone. "I faced the same state when dealing with them meddling kids back at Volcano Isle."

She happened to be the only one whom smiled at his appearance, while the patterns on him and the sparks given off every few seconds seemed to scare Hallie and Lio, the latter spitting off watermelon seeds into her face with fright. Then, Tiko made his way into the middle of the group, with his hands held tightly onto one another.

"Let's just say that fighting with the cannon seemed better than dealing with the kids by hand."

He started to snicker, before he faced back outside, where the scene of the battle was nothing more than a black stained platform. The Spiro-Cannon was seen nearby, standing at a mighty posture. The others then looked on at it, with their leader's words ringing through their minds with every passing second.

"He could very well have a point", replied N-Trance with a twitch of the eyebrow. "Besides, now that we've managed to smoke the island down into ashes, what will we do with it?"

Tiko turned to face him. "You don't know what those ashes will do, don't you?"

The group remained silent, leaving them in thought for a few seconds. Then, one by one, they responded with shaken heads, with their faces pointing down on the floor. With a grit of his teeth, Tiko started to clutch his fists with fury and open up a nearby blind, showing a bright window view from outside.

"Take a look outside!"

He pointed out through the window, and that was where they all started to surround it, cramming around it. From there, the ashes from the island started to rise and form a whirlwind. Ten seconds passed, until the ashes started to fall to the ground, taking a more building-esque structure around it.

"Oh my God," shrieked Lio. "What kind of strange form is it taking?"

"Wait patiently, brother," Tiko said as his eyes shifted towards his direction, "and you will see what kind of benefits will come our way."

They looked on at the ashes of the island, starting to put itself together like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. It held the shape of a large room on the ground floor, then towers started to form around it, as well as turrets right at the top. Volcano Isle was soon turned from a lump in the middle of the sea, into a giant bastion.

A bright midday sun started to peak over the top of the penthouse, giving off a golden look down to the streets below. Then, the doors started to swing open, and the group came out of there one by one, with gestures filled with smiles and determination. As usual, Neo stood ahead, with his hair blowing gently in the wind.

"You know what this means, ladies and gents - time to head on over to the island!"

He then started to run ahead, down the widened streets beneath. He soon made a corner around it, facing the ocean lines, hoping to see a pleasurable view of the island ahead of him. But... as soon as he faced the bastion-like structure, his eyes shrunk with shock over at it, causing him to shake.

"Oh boy..."

A thunderclap was given off above the castle, which soon reflected within Neo's eyes. He gave out a gulp towards it, knowing that Volcano Isle has taken a turn for the worse. Then, the others started to rush to his side, and respond with equal surprised looks over at its new form. Snappy even seemed to hug his tail with fear.

"You ain't the only one that seems shocked by this! Something fishy's going on around here!"

"Well, if we need to find out," Brio walked right next to him, "we'd best go straight away!"

He pointed over at the island, and they were just about to head down, before... they looked at each other - it seemed that there was a figure that was missing in the group. Then, a howl was heard from the penthouse door. Sparky pointed over to it, and saw a cowering wolverine, with his paws over his eyes.

"Bad news - Boron isn't in the mood for this."

Beverley then walked ahead of the group, and saw Boron for himself. Then, she gave out a smile. "Not when I'm here!"

Smirking, she looked around and saw a few bones inside a garbage can. She pulled out the longest she can find, holding a slight bit of roasted chicken meat/skin on it. She waved it out in front of him like a pendulum, causing his attention to be cast straight onto it almost instantly.

"Here boy, go fetch it!"

She tossed it straight down the street leading to the ocean, and that caused him to dash right towards it with his limbs being close to one another. Several seconds of silence passed, until... his figure returned to the group, looking happier than ever. There was something held in his mouth, but... it wasn't a bone, but what looked like a small robotic arm.

"Okay, where did that come from?" she asked the wolverine.

Gary soon came near him and crouched to his level. "Boron, go back and see if you can dig the rest of it up."

He then ran from the group again, leaving a shadow trailing behind him. This left them standing in complete silence for a full ten seconds, before Boron returned pushing something uphill - a small machine that was only just as big as his chest. It looked like a robot - a small mech.

"er..." Sara started rubbing the back of her neck. "Okay, someone try and identify the graving on this thing!"

"That's what I'm here for!" smiled Sparky.

He crouched down towards it, with his paws going across the ground. He then brought his paws onto the front panel, and opened it with one of his paws out at its sharpest point. Inside it, an engine can be seen, holding a spiral-like shape that glowed lemon yellow.

"It has a crest that looks just like that on my stone. But... how?"

"Where did you get it from?" Crash asked as he stroked Boron's head.

The wolverine jumped, and went back down the street. The others seemed to have no choice but to follow him. They soon reached the bottom, and it wasn't long until they noticed that they stood right at the bottom of the mine cart wreckage, caused after their escape from the factory the night before.

"Okay, we take the package with us", started Aurora, "and we'll see what kind of answers we'll get on shore!"

She then looked in Sparky's direction, whom passed the small mech towards her hands. She then placed it in a backpack behind her back, and it was there when they faced the direction of the harbor towards the right of them. A dangerous path was to show right in front of them all.

(scene change)

Meanwhile, back at Volcano Isle, another flash of lightning and a thunderclap can be seen through one of the bastion windows. Through there, N-Trance looked out towards the view of the city ahead of him. With that, he cackled before walking to the darkness at the other side of the room.

(scene blurs back at the harbor)

Back with the others, the walk along the harbor shoreline seemed to last forever. Most of the ships they passed by either seemed to be too big, too complex, or they were heavily padlocked. They soon reached the end, and it was there when Neo looked down, with a face filled with cheated anger.

"Oh great, we're almost out of boats!"

He pounded his fists against the walls and soon turned around, with his back sliding against it before he brought himself into a comfortable sitting position. Most of the others faced similar expressions, but... Crunch kept his smile and pointed over at something near the end of the path.

"There's no need to panic! I think I can see a yacht to the right!"

He pointed over towards the boat, which showed a droopy sail and a few scratches on the side of the deck. Most of the group started to look at it in disgust, seeing it as one of those ships in no state to ride along. Spike went his way towards it, and... as he did so, the sail fell into his face.

"Sheesh, this thing's old and tatty!"

"Ah, but this is where some expertise in mechanics comes in handy!" Taylor winked over at him.

He jumped up onto the side of the deck, and took a hold of one of the ropes on the sail. He pulled it back, and tied it securely into position, allowing the sail to stand up straight again. He then took out a chunk of sandpaper from his pocket and rubbed it against the scratches, wiping them out instantly.

"There, good as new!"

"Wow, you work quick!" Zephyr shouted at him with a wide smile on him.

Taylor gave out a light smile towards them, before he looked on at the boat and climbed towards the cockpit, taking a hold of the steering wheel. But nothing moved. Soon, Sparky came next to him and gave off a light electric spark through where the key should slot itself into, causing it to start up. The others soon got in, bringing their faces over the sides of the ship. Near the front, Neo and Aiko went towards the mast together.

"I don't understand why an island like Volcano Isle would want to take up a shape like that", he asked her.

"Neither do I," Aiko responded in return, "but our only way to find out is to head on over there."

She pointed over at it, which started to show more shrouding dark clouds than before. She looked on at it with a light twitch of the mouth, but... that was until a stroke went through her - Neo's hands were brought around her waist, and that caused her to bring her arms out in a T position. The ship then started moving towards the dark castle in the middle of the ocean - no one knows what will lie there, but all will be revealed when they make their way inside.

-end of part 10-


	11. The Final Crusade

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Looks like we've reached the final battle, folks. Even if I didn't gain much attention for my previous parts, I want to thank anyone who managed to read this far for getting closer.

Must admit, I had a lot of thought on the exploration of the island, the pre-battle tension building, and the dramatic scenes inside the battle itself. Maybe I should draw fanart based on it!

Not much else to state here – not even any Power Crisis references. But either way, enjoy the part as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

---

Almost an hour passed for the group, before the boat soon started to make its way close towards the shallow waters surrounding the island. Most of the group looked out ahead, and it wasn't long until the tip made its stroke against the golden sandy shores, the only thing on the isle that glowed with brightness.

"Whoa, is that all that's left of the magic of the island?" gasped Snappy.

He jumped down towards the dunes, and then he went round to scooping some of which into his own two hands. He looked down at it, with his mouth starting to twitch at the glance of it. Sparky soon came next to him, hovering his wings, and looked down to the sparkling dunes himself, glimmering like crystals.

"I think it is, otherwise we may end up being a bit stuck here."

He then blew the dunes away from Snappy's hand, whom retaliated with a light squeal. They soon floated their way among the wind, before touching down on a patch of what looked like dying grass near a large steel gate, with glowing torches and large walls seen alongside it.

"Well, let's face it", Brio smiled. "At least we managed to find ourselves a way into this pig sty."

Gary gave out a light smile. "Very wise thoughts, but how the heck do we open this door?"

Martha gave out an abrupt cough, and started waving her hands before making her way towards the gate for herself. The reflection of her eyes can be seen within the metal panning within them. Snickering, she took a hold of the bars and pulled them, but... after five seconds, it didn't budge an inch.

"Sheesh, this thing's as hard as a drum!"

"Need a hand?" asked Crunch.

She turned around and looked into the brown bandicoot's direction, whom gave in a wink before walking right next to her. His face showed a "piece of cake" look on him. Then, he took a hold of the bars and started pulling for himself, but... even with his muscles, they still won't budge.

"Crikey, what have they added here, reinforced stain glass?"

He growled over at it, and tried to pull harder onto the bars, trying to make them rise as high as they possibly can. Sweat soon started to drop down the side of his face, and then... he had no choice but to release the grip on the bars and retreat, with his head lowered down with exhaustion.

"It's no use," started Crash. "We may need to check round the back or something."

"We can't give up now!" Zephyr shouted in his direction. "We're almost there!"

Growling, Zephyr took out his light saber and started hitting it among the bars, causing a few sparks to be given off as it happens. A few seconds later, some scratches started to show up on them. He smiled at the progress, until... a blinding light showed right above him.

"Holy crud!!"

He looked up, and saw a glowing patch of bright white energy starting to swirl closer towards them. A cool breeze started to go through Zephyr's coat, causing him to look onto it with widened eyes filled with curiosity. He looked on at some of the others, with the same looks on them.

"Hey, what's going on?" panicked DJ.

"I don't know, but..." Aurora paused. "It feels a bit odd, don't you think?"

She then started to walk carefully towards the light, and brought her light into it. Within seconds, her hair was starting to stick on end slightly and they blew within the cool draft. Then, without knowing, she ended up with her tiptoes and started to hover a few centimeters from the ground. Most of the other girls started to face the same fate, with pleasure in some of their minds.

"I'm flying, wheeeee!"

"Jenny, this is no time for a joke!" sighed Lozzy with anger.

She growled over at her, before... a nudge occurred from down below - that of Crunch's elbow against her back. She spun around, and saw the males floating up with her. They then started to look up, seeing themselves heading higher towards the top of the castle, getting faster and faster. Some of them had pleasure in their minds while thrusting their bodies upwards, but Neo seemed to be the only one being cautious.

"Take it easy, we're gonna hit the roof!"

He pointed over at a nearby ledge, covered with dark planks on them. The girls looked at it, before they brought their feet onto the wall and pushed themselves away from it. Then, the others followed in a similar fashion, and in no time at all they soon made it past the ledge and hovered higher.

"Whew, thanks for the warning Neo!" shouted Taylor with shock.

Neo turned in his direction, and gave out a wink towards him. Then, they looked up and saw themselves coming closer and closer towards the top of a tower, where a pair of open glass panels can be seen coming closer towards them. Aiko immediately pointed up at them in a rapid succession.

"I can see an open window! But... is that where we're going into?"

"Beats me, but there's only one way to find out", Spike paused. "Hang onto your souls as tight as you can!"

He looked around, and then he took a tight grip of Crash's hands, whom took a hold of his back. The others soon faced a similar scenario, with their faces looking up towards the open window. They were only less than a meter away from the ledge, when the light around them started to penetrate their eyes.

"Aiee!" Bev squealed. "The light's too bright for me to stand!"

She covered her eyes with one hands, while maintaining her grip onto Martha's waist with another. This caused the pair to start screaming and wriggling about like a pair of seahorses. Then, they were brought inside the window, with the flash becoming too much for their view to know where and how they will land. The light soon faded out in front of them, and they looked around them, facing a large dungeon-like room with lit torches and graffiti among the walls, mainly showing Tiko and the others drawn in a child-like style. They looked up, and it seemed that there was no ceiling - the cloud-filled skies were right above them.

"Is crew okay?" questioned Chyna.

"I think we are, but..." Neo brought himself into a standing position. "I don't understand why we're brought here of all places."

"Well, your answer is ready to make its way right into our clutches", said a voice at the other side of the room.

The voice caused them to look right ahead of them, and see a figure walk from the other side of the room, with its shadow stretching out towards them. It took a few steps closer, before coming into the brightest section, being the center. Its egg-shaped expression and its mech-like suit was shown in full form, and by now, the figure was obvious.

"N-Trance?!?" Neo jumped. "What gives you a right to bring us up here uninvited?"

"Ah, I'd never thought I'd ask. With you almost thwarting our plans at the factory, it's time we got around to erasing you for good before our plan is complete!"

Neo's eyes shot open. After all that wondering on what Tiko and N-Trance has been planning to do, all answers could very well reach their mind on why he seemed to be the wanted figure. With determination on his face, he stepped forward and looked on into the egg creature's poison-ivy-shaded green eyes.

"What do you want with us anyway?"

"Let me tell you what we all want with the equipment here."

He brought his eyes onto the others one by one. As soon as he made contact with Taylor's, he started to shake, and he looked down at his right hand, where the stone that he picked up on the way to the mine cart ruins were seen in his hand. The egg creature started to sneer down at it, before his jaws were opened to speak.

"That stone in your hands, trench coat boy, held a mysterious power from the long-lost God of the Stars trapped inside it. He was born with the power to control the weather. With him in mind, I was hoping to use it to drown your lifestyle into nothing."

"And then I simply refused to join your side...?" Sparky gave out a light gulp. "All because of my worries over my planet's laws."

"You're getting the trick. So this means I had to resort to another powerful unit of measure - the magic of Volcano Isle. The generators were there to transfer the life energy into power similar to inside the stone. With that all together, they have been used in the Spiro-Cannon for our processes."

His last words caused the others to start discussing lightly among themselves, questioning themselves around the theory. Even Boron and Chyna were reluctant to give out howls from their mouths, to show danger in their minds. Then, the discussions started to quiet down, and Neo stepped ahead of the group.

"All that for wanting to kill me? Why pick that of all scenarios?"

"It's the cheapest method I can think of. So shut your trap and let's go."

He clapped his hand, and something started to shake within the ground. A hatch opened up, and the Spiro-Cannon showed itself into view. He jumped inside the seat, pulled a few knobs and handles, and brought a visor over his eyes. A snarl started to show up onto his face, with equal amounts of determination and vileness.

"Prepare for your ultimate demise, Cortex!"

A round of vile laughter started to emerge from his mouth, before he brought the turret of the cannon to meet with his eyes. All that Neo could do would stand there in a Western Cowboy position, looking straight at the strobe lights on the side of the cannon, flashing from blue to white. Then... both Taylor and Sparky went to his side.

"You can do with some help, kid", Taylor smiled.

"I'll do the same", the wolarcoot gave out a wink at him as he replied.

He looked at Taylor first of all. With Sparky's stone in his hand, and how he managed to save the rest of the group from a mine cart crash, it seemed that he could be a helpful asset to him. Then, he faced Sparky. A wolarcoot, trapped after seeing the annihilation of his planet, now a freedom fighter hoping to restore order to a new planet. He smiled at him, before looking ahead towards the gun.

"Alright, time to get down to some business!"

The time soon arrived. They recently arrived on a transfigured version of Volcano Isle, where they knew that they were to face a life-or-death scenario with a figure that was almost responsible for his demise. And thus, it all was about to end here.

The cannon start to rise itself higher into the air, and the nozzle of the Spiro-Cannon was sent down to the ground, shadowing Neo, Sparky and Taylor all at once, standing close to each other at the other side of the room. With a cackle, N-Trance pulled a lever, and the turret started to shake.

"He's about to fire!" screamed Taylor. "Quick, duck!"

A bright shot of white light came over them, which could easily rip their heads off instantly. But... within the light, the figures were seen rolling underneath it to another part to a room, with Taylor almost ramming his way towards Sparky by the back as he did so. They soon stood upright, looking at each other.

"Take it easy Taylor, you almost squashed us!"

"I know, but it's not my fault he's getting a bit rough with us these days!"

They were about to bring their hands around the other's, hoping to squeeze them into a deathly grasp, but... that was until Neo stormed between them and broke them up. Then, from the corner of his eye, another shot started to head in his direction, causing his eyes to shrink at the sight of them.

"Quick, to the right!"

They started running their way to the right, leaving their feet to clatter upon the ground every few seconds. Then, they rolled underneath several shots heading their way and while the cannon was left to charge for its next shoot, they brought themselves to their feet and kept on running. The slow process caused N-Trance to look at them and growl.

"Get back here, you little runts!"

He then went round to holding down a button even further in and longer than beforehand. That caused the group to stop for a while to catch their breath, before... the turret started to shake more uncontrollably than before. The sight of it caused them to hold onto each other before stepping forward slightly.

"DUCK!" cried Neo.

The shot was sent out from the turret, causing a white blast that looked like a shot from the largest water gun in existence to hit the walls. It kept on going for seven whole seconds, and by the time it faded out, the three of which were seen on the floor, crouching down, holding onto each others' hands.

"I can't believe how close that was...!" responded Taylor with shock.

"Neither can I," gasped Sparky, "but... that's saying something, ya?"

Taylor gave in a light nod filled with a slight bit of fear in him. Then, they started to run their way around the left of the machine. This time, the loss of energy from the machine caused it to start spinning to them much slower than before. They soon made their way behind the turret, and that was where they faced it with confidence.

"That's it!" Neo smirked over at it. "Head upstairs!"

He pointed towards the left and right sides of the machine respectively, where Taylor and Sparky rushed towards those directions. They pulled themselves up onto them like they were getting ready to ride horses, and once on there they started causing damage to the sides - Taylor with a dagger, and Sparky with bolts of lightning.

"What are you doing with this thing?" asked N-Trance with panic. "Leave me alone, I beg you!"

"Not until you return to your home! You don't belong here!" Taylor growled.

He soon growled at N-Trance, before sending the dagger up towards his face, almost making contact with his eyes. They were left in leering stances for a while... until N-Trance pulled himself away and turned around, facing Sparky's direction, whom was causing an electric current to start running through the right hand side of the machine.

"Neither does the puppy," he leered, "so that's two of us!"

He growled over at Sparky's direction, before he started flipping more switches and pressing more buttons. Over time, the current in the machine started to send some smoke rising into the air. Then, the sparks changed from yellow to white, and then, they flashed so much, the wolarcoot's view was totally blocked.

"Sparky, JUMP!!!" Neo cried out.

But it was too late. An explosion was triggered, and a bright white beam was sent straight through his chest, sending him down to the ground and landing with a hard thud on his back. Gasping, Neo rushed to his side and went over him and his weakened expressions upon his face. His face dived into frustration at this point.

"Sparky! Sparky, listen to me!"

He started shaking him on the arms rapidly, waiting for any form of response. Then... a light cough was heard from Sparky himself. His eyes were slightly opened at this point, and his jaws started to clutch together loosely with defeat across his fur. His breathing started to get shallower as time started to slip away.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it..."

He brought his hand over his chest, and then he rolled so that he was lying on his stomach. From there, a shocking sight came across to Neo's view - a large hole was cut out in Sparky's chest, with blood starting to drop down the side of it. He rolled onto his front again, fighting for every single breath he can grab.

"No, please, tell me you can! Tell me there's a little sparkle of hope setting inside you!"

From the cannon, Taylor rushed over to his side and took a hold of the wolarcoot by the hands. He brought his limp face level with his, trying ever so hard to keep eye contact with him for longer than ten whole seconds. After a few more breaths, Sparky then looked up at him, and spoke in a very restless tone.

"N-Trance has a point. I do not belong here. Like my ancestors, I'm meant to live with them, no matter whether they're dead or alive."

His head drooped down forward, and his wings then started to pull themselves down as well. This left Taylor to gently put him down onto the ground, with a tear starting to shred from his eye. Sparky's eyelids started to close slightly, with bloodshot starting to seep their way through them.

"But you can't do this now!" begged Neo. "You've helped us get out of many tight spots!"

"I know, but..." the wolarcoot sighed. "I'm sorry, but my time here is over."

He then brought his face to his side, starting to look more weakened than beforehand. Upon the sight of it, the blood trail from his back started to creep through the ground like a light puddle expanding bigger and bigger, and taking the shape of a lengthy shadow underneath him.

"If you still want me around, I want you to defeat N-Trance for me."

"But we barely know how!" Taylor brought himself into a pleading position. "We still need your help!"

"I will be watching over your every step", whispered Sparky.

Again, Taylor went to his side, and took a hug around his chest, with some of the blood starting to reach his fingers. He started to quiver with a slight amount of disappointment, before releasing his grip on him, and allowing him to look up to the cloud-filled skies.

"Ah, nirvana at laaaaast..."

And with that, the last sign of air went out from his mouth, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head before his eyelids were slammed tight. The sight caused Neo to go over him, and continue shaking him. His face started to get more distraught with every passing second.

"Sparky, no!!!"

His shakings soon started to die down, and several seconds passed, before... he finally stopped. With a tear starting to fall from his eye, he turned away from him and looked down to the ground, trying to hide the image of a dying wolarcoot from his mind. Nearby, Taylor noticed his actions, and crouched down next to him.

"Sorry about that, but... it's too late. We might as well have to continue this match alone."

He looked on at Taylor's eyes, starting to turn a brick red color with heartbreak, just like Neo has faced. Then, he soon brought himself to his feet, and looked back and forth between Sparky's corpse and the Spiro-Cannon. His sadness soon started to boil... into bitter anger.

"You... are so... gonna PAY FOR THIS!!!"

His fists then clutched themselves together with rage, and he started to step his way closer towards the cannon. Then, he stopped at it when he was 20 meters away from it, looking up at N-Trance in the cockpit, whom could only give in curious glances straight towards him.

"You seem adventurous for a teenager... too bad you chose the wrong side!"

"What do you mean?" Neo asked with a nervous tone.

"You mean... he finally will start to work for me?" said a voice nearby.

It caused N-Trance to blink, before looking towards an opening near the other side of the room, where Tiko – restored to his regular form - and his siblings all walked in, with puzzled looks brought onto their faces. Upon the glance, his eyes went down with a shady look upon his face.

"Not quite... even today he doesn't want to steal a loaf of bread!"

"Now you tell me..." Tiko started to blush back.

"Sheesh, how can I pick the wrong side when I know who my friends are?" Neo stepped closer to them. "You don't know anything about me! I may not know much about my future, but with the way you guys are taking it, you've obviously altered several aspects of it already."

He then pulled the turret for the cannon down to his level, and climbed right to the top of it. Taylor tried to reach up to him, but... he was only just pushed back. He leered at N-Trance, then at his siblings, and then over at Sparky. He then pointed at him, with his face starting to turn red.

"Take a look at what you've done here! All this suffering and hatred, all pushed into the body of one poor puppy! And now, it's all gone to waste thanks to you!"

He then brought his hand down towards the side of his body, before looking around the walls and the graffiti surrounding him. He jumped down from the cannon, and started to growl at the sight of the art that was drawn upon them before turning around to face his enemies again.

"And take a look around the island, and what you've done to make this place a living wreck! See what kind of a difference it could make to your lives in the future?"

"I don't care what happens," started N-Trance, "as long as you don't live to see it!"

With a smirk on his face, he took a hold of the controls to the cannon again, before bringing it down towards Neo, whom stood there without fear in his mind. While it was being charged, three figures rushed from the sidelines before stopping right next to him.

"You need some help, right partner?" asked Snappy.

"How about three other helping hands?" Brio smiled at him back.

Near him, Boron gave out a light howl before jumping up onto his shoulders. This left Neo to smile over at him slightly, before facing the others, whom all showed confident looks back to them. Then, they all faced N-Trance together, whom was smirking with his sharp jaws out.

"Alright, let's all go together!"

He pulled down a knob, and the cannon started to fire over to them, causing them to start running away from the shots. This time, with the help of Boron tugging some of the others along when necessary, it seemed that they were much faster than before. Meanwhile, Tiko and the others rushed to the others on the sidelines, leaving them with a slight bit of fear.

"Bev, you try and guard the others against the siblings!" Neo ordered to her. "We'll take care of the cannon!"

The cry of his voice caused her to look on at him, whom gave in a thumbs-up pose back as he ran past her. She too started to smile, and she whistled over at the others, whom all got in battling poses, defending themselves against the attacks they have used in previous battles.

"That's it! You're not going too far for sure now!!!"

The cry of Snappy's voice started to echo around the room, and he soon brought himself into a fast handstand-cartwheel-dive combo away from the shots. He then looked at the nozzle, and jumped up on top of it with a smile starting to drive onto his face. But that caused Brio to stop and see his actions.

"Hey!!! Be careful!"

Before he could say anything else, Neo pulled him by the arm and they continued running. That left N-Trance to try and push Snappy from the edge, but he was too far to reach. Instead, he jumped up and went behind him, before bringing his arms into a headlock around his opponent.

"This will be your last straw! Get here!"

He then jumped onto his shoulders and pounded him in his seat, before pulling him off the cannon and they ended up rolling across the ground, fighting like they were in a cat fight. Meanwhile, Boron went to the front of the weapon, and stuck his nose inside it.

"Boron, what are you doing?" shouted Neo.

Without any second thoughts, he then jumped inside the cannon. The turret soon rise itself into the air vertically, and while that happens, the sound of shaking could be heard. That caused N-Trance to look on from his position at the ground, seeing the weapon in its incoming bad state.

"Don't touch the inside, whatever you do!"

More shaking was seen, before sparks started to fly up into the air. Most of which landed near the others causing light dents in the ground, while others just fizzed away into nothing while they were in the air. The sight of it caused Neo to rush up close to it.

"Quick Boron, get out!!! You're gonna get fried!"

It then started to glow red to blue non-stop, with smoke starting to rise from the seat. That caused Neo to take a step back, before a panel from underneath the turret exploded right where his face has previously been. He started to tremble at the glance of it.

"What's happening to the machine?!?!?"

"I don't know," panicked Brio, "but something's telling me it's something good!"

That caused Neo to look on at his partner, before the sound of more fizzing and a scream can be seen from the damaged machine. With a gasp, he rushed towards it, before pulling the turret in his direction, pulling out a soot-covered Boron from inside it and rushing away from it, before it exploded, sending a white flash around them.

"Whoa!!!" Snappy screamed out.

The flash caused him to lie down on the ground, to avoid being taken any hits. Most of the others somehow did the same, with the exception of Crunch whom ended up with the tips of his hair getting singed slightly. The light soon faded out, and they looked ahead of them - all that was left was a pile of scrap metal.

"Is that it?" Neo remained in silence for a while. "Destroyed?"

Neo soon rushed to the side of it, and touched a part of the panels, which felt hot on the touch. He soon dropped it on the ground, before looking over at N-Trance, whom has ended up being pinned by Snappy. He started to growl even more, before pushing himself up from his position.

"Maybe not the cannon, but you still got us!"

He then looked over at Tiko and the others, whom were still doing their job with Bev and the others, and by this point, half of her group were taken down by the others. This left Neo to advance closer towards N-Trance, with his hands clutching one another.

"Stand away from us! Remember, you don't belong here!"

He then crouched down to the pink egg's level, and took a hold of him on the legs, before dragging him towards Bev's group. Over there, Taylor brought out the stone, which soon started to glow with a bright yellow glow, before it changed itself into a bright portal.

"What are you doing?" N-Trance continued to wriggle from his position. "Don't do this to meeeee!"

But it was instantly too late. This left Neo to try and lift him into the portal, but... by the touch of his body, he was just too heavy for him. He then resorted to trying to carry him on the chest, but no luck. Then, Snappy and Brio came near him, and they all tossed him inside together. The sound of his screams started to echo around the room, before the portal was soon shut tight. This meant that N-Trance has finally been caught and brought back into his dimension. Silence came around them, before the four of them exchanged high fives to one another and looking back at Bev and the others.

"That's it!" Neo jumped up with a smile. "One down, four to go!"

They started to rush in their direction, with their fists out in front of them, hoping to accomplish something while they were there, but... once they stood near them, there was no sign of Tiko or any of his siblings. That caused them to look left to right, trying to track them down.

"Oh great, where are they?"

"I hate to say this Neo, but..." Bev paused. "They're escaping!!!"

She pointed up, and saw all four siblings escaping via what looked like a helicopter pack on Tiko's back. They all held onto one another, before hovering their way up so that they were level with the height of the walls. Angered by this, Neo rushed to the middle of the room, so that their shadows were cast over him.

"Come back here!"

He then saw them starting to hover towards the walls from their position. With a growl on him, he went towards the walls and started climbing onto them for himself, with his hair starting to trickle down the back of his forehead at this point. But from nearby, Crash came near him and took him by the shoulders, pulling him down to the ground.

"Let them go, Neo. I know you want them caught in jail for your troubled past, but now's not the time."

All that Neo could do was look down with disappointment at this point. He was so close from putting his siblings behind bars for everything they did to him, and now, this means that a long wait has to occur before his next attempt. All he could do was look back at Crash, and then at Sparky's body.

"If you still want me around, I want you to defeat N-Trance for me."

The thoughts of one of his last few remarks caused his eyes to shoot open, before he rushed back to his side.

-end of part 11-


	12. Epilogue: Time's Proposal

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Okay, so this is the epilogue to wrap up the third in the Schoolhouse Rock set, and probably the last in the trilogy. I'm not really sure what to follow with next, but it was still great to write as it was.

So this may show itself as a typical finale with everyone saying their last goodbyes and that, but it's needed if the overall storyline for the trilogy had to follow right.

If there's something to point out here in terms of references to other stories, I'd point out a note for the "restored" formation of Volcano Isle. The result of the fanfic here in turn managed to affect its appearance in Galaxy of Europe – no harm in adding in a reference to that fic again, huh?

Anyhow, thank you for reading. Good night, and God bless!

Peace out,

-Rexy-

Sparky's corpse, no matter how much of a dangerous appearance it held, started to glow a bright yellow at this point. The blood trail from behind him started to roll back inside his body, like time was being reversed. That caused Neo to gasp over at it, before... the body was lifted into the air.

"No, Sparky, please don't go now!"

What looked like bright yellow fireflies started to go all around him. By the time he was a meter above the ground, his body then turned into a pure white color, before shape shifting into a series of white butterflies of light, coming towards his hand and swirling around him.

"Illumina..."

Neo's face remained with shock. Then, the butterflies started to come closer together, with most of which stopping right in front of his hand and taking the shape of a stick. Then, they all glowed together, and they started to change their form once again, into a different object altogether.

"Illumina..."

The light soon started to fade out from around them, or should we say, it - what was now in Neo's hand was a long sword, with a golden handle and a graving of a thunderbolt brought onto the top of it. He looked down at the weapon, with his eyes widened as far as they could go.

"What is this...?"

As he stood there with his surprised looks, the others then came around and surrounded him, taking their time to look at it. Their awe-filled expressions were shown on the reflection of it, lighting their gravel-covered faces in the darkened room when necessary.

"By the looks of it," Beverley started speaking, "it seems that Sparky's spirit lives inside the sword."

"I think I'm understanding the prophecy", replied Aiko in a restless tone. "Saving the island under another's expense... I never thought it would be him."

With a sigh, she looked down to the ground, with her hair starting to go over her face. She then sat down, and hugged her legs before hiding her chin under her knees. Most of the others started to face similar concerned expressions and share them with the entity next to them.

"Chyna no thought of it either," the wombat creature sighed, "but otherwise, Sparky be great kid when gang knew him."

She then looked down, and brought herself into a crawling position with her legs, before bringing her tail up to her face. She then gave out a light howl from her mouth, before looking back at Boron, whom came over to her and stroked her back with a look filled with sympathy.

"No matter how much Sparky cared for us, and how much we respected him in return, I can't accept this."

The voice caused both Boron and Chyna to turn around. At this stage, Neo was seen looking down at the sword and seeing his reflection for himself. No matter how beautiful and precious it seemed to be, it seemed that a look filled with lack of temptation was shown upon his face.

"The stone that Sparky was contained in came from a place far away from the present. If it was in the same warp as you guys, then it's better traveling back with you guys, back to where it rightfully belongs."

He looked over at Crash, at Crunch, at Chyna, at Zephyr, and finally at Spike. They all seemed to give in reassuring nods towards him, before he walked his way over to them all. Once there, his eyes met with Spike's again, who could only look curious back at him.

"Spike," Neo started, "I want you to have this."

With no second thoughts, he took a hold of the handle of the sword, and brought it towards Spike's direction. His face started to show a slight bit of bewilderment in his face. Then, slowly and carefully, he got a hold of the handle, but... the blade instantly hit the ground as soon as Neo released his grip.

"But it's too heavy for me to carry!" the dingodino cried out.

Neo then placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "You'll get used to it, trust me."

Again, Spike gave in a light nod, before dragging the handle in his direction, and allowing the sword to cut a mark across the ground. Then, several seconds later, he got round to finally lifting it up into the air. From nearby, Crunch took a hold of it, and held it for safe keeping.

"Speaking of our time," Crash smiled, "it's almost time for us to head back over there."

"We've had a great time with you nonetheless, and your future is starting to show some brightness already", exclaimed Crunch with a wink.

The brown bandicoot then slipped the sword behind his back, before it vanished. Then, that left Neo to look on at the five again, whom all gave in smiles towards him. He then had a choice, and was more than happy to smile back at them all with a twinkle showing within his eyes.

"Thanks guys", smiled Neo. "You seem to be a bunch of great people to hang with."

"Hey, no problem."

Crash gave in a wink towards him, before looking at the center of the room. Nearby, the small robot picked up earlier started to shake in Aurora's hand, before its hatch opened up again, revealing its crest. Then, a warp portal was opened up, showing a bright red tunnel in there.

"The time has come", Zephyr said. "We'll see you later, dude."

They all gave in one last smile each towards the others, before they climbed inside one by one. Chyna gave a hug over to Boron, with a tear going down her eye, before running through the portal first. Spike was next to jump in, with his coat flying in the wind. Then came Zephyr, facing a similar action.

"Crash!" shouted Neo. "Don't leave just yet!"

"Remember, you have a bright future ahead of you. Don't waste it, whatever you do!"

He gave a wink towards Neo, whom could only look on at him back. Then, he jumped his way inside the portal. That left Crunch behind, who gave in one last wave before jumping in himself. The portal then started to shrink, before it dissolved into nothing within its position in the air.

"You know, maybe they were right", smiled Sara. "They've given us a lot to live for."

Her voice caused Neo to face straight towards her. She showed a smile upon her face, knowing that what she meant could show some truth. He looked blankly into her eyes for a few seconds, before taking a hold of her hand and they all started walking as a group. That left them to go through the tunnels themselves, down towards the exit of the island, to freedom.

-May 31st, 1981 - 10:25 local time-

A whole week has passed since the incident, and as the sun rose over the penthouse, its shadow started to decrease in size. At the front door, six figures all went outside in a line - those for Jenny, Lozzy, DJ, Aiko, Aurora and Taylor. They were only just on the tarmac, when Snappy came into view over the door.

"What, you six are leaving already?"

"Yeah, sure we are", said Jenny. "We've had a good time here, but nonetheless, our job is done."

She then gave in a light nod towards him, before walking ahead of the group, with her clothes starting to trail behind her. Lozzy looked over at her, with her eyes blinking every two seconds, before turning back to Snappy's direction with a smile brought over her face.

"We can still be able to see you again, someday, now that you're in our phone books."

"Oh yeah", blush the alligator. "Remember that it's two zeros after the 3, not after the 6!"

The shout caused her to fall down with an anime sweat drop on her face. Then, from nearby, both DJ and Taylor took her by the arms and pulled her up while they were walking far away from the penthouse, with their bodies being brought further and further away into the distance.

"We'll remember that!" Aiko shouted. "We'll see you soon!"

"Remember to keep in touch!" Aurora beamed.

"Adios, Snappy!" Taylor jumped and waved at him. "You and your group were just great!"

"It was nice knowing you!" DJ winked over at him.

Their waves then started to turn into a blur, and it wasn't long until they appeared to be as small as ants through Snappy's eyes. Then, they went over the hill, and down the path, blocked away from his view. He wiped a tear from his eye, before he went out himself and down the street.

Meanwhile, the back doors to the streets were also opened up, by two different figures. Over there, Neo and Bev stepped out into the golden light ahead of them, with their hair starting to blow in the light winds and the sunlight blocking their view for a few seconds, before they turned away from it.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you like this Bev," Neo begun speaking, "but it's my job to hunt down my brother and pay him back."

"I understand what you mean. But look at it this way - do not hate him too much, otherwise you may end up containing hatred back."

As she said that, she brought her fingers right inside Neo's hair, brushing them and giving him a comfortable feeling inside his stomach. He smiled over at her, before they both faced the ocean line together. Over there, there was an island that stood mightily, now with a peak up on top of it.

"After today," she sighed, "it seems that Volcano Isle may never be the same again."

"But look at its restored form!"

"Not exactly fully restored, mind. All that remains of the incident is the misshapen peak - kinda looks like a pig between you and me - and two buildings remaining."

She pointed back at the island, and at the two features. Right through the foggy clouds, the tip of the volcano can be seen, which actually had the shape of a pig's head. And nearby, two temple-like remains of the castle can be seen among the surface of it, with a path actually built up to reach them.

"Got any names for them?" he looked back at her.

"After what happens here, I'd call them the Hidden Fortress, and the House of Dreams. I don't know why, but that's what my heart tells me."

She looked down, with her hair starting to go over her face. Then, Neo went round to the other side of her, before brushing it back over her shoulders and giving over a reassuring smile towards her. She blinked over at him back, with her lip starting to quiver at the same time.

"We may have faced a radical change here today," Neo blinked at her, "but here's one thing that has stayed the same. No matter what happens, we will remember our friends and company, and wherever you go, I'll still be with you."

Bev kept a speechless look on her face, leaving them in silence for a few seconds. They then held hands, and started walking their way around the left hand side of the penthouse, with their shadows starting to trail behind them as they walked. Above them, a pack of doves flew and made their way to the top of the building.

They looked at each other for one last time, knowing that that could be the final time in their lives they'll make eye contact with each other. But... their thoughts were broken by the sound of a "La Cucaracha" car horn. That caused him to look ahead, and they saw Snappy, Brio and Boron back in the jeep, heading towards them. He turned back to Bev, whom hugged him for one last time.

"I'll be with you too."

They remained in that pose for no longer than 26 seconds, until... she released her grip, leaving him to go over to the jeep for himself. He got in, and then, they sped off into the distance. She started to shed a tear over at him, before walking back in, keeping with her emotions.

A while later, the jeep was seen leaving the city and going down a deserted highway, heading in a western direction. They looked at the cloudless skies ahead of them, with their eyes facing upwards and ahead at the same time. Then, Neo made eye contact with Snappy, whom blinked back.

"It's a bit of a funny feeling leaving behind your childhood home again, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I can imagine what it feels like", replied the alligator. "Man, I'd do anything to be ten years younger."

He gave out a sigh, as he then brought his feet up at his position at the back of the car, almost knocking Boron off his seat. Over time, he had no choice but to jump down and climb on top of Snappy's legs, with his paws starting to tap down slightly. Near them, Brio turned around, and saw the fading city view over the horizon.

"Do you think we'd be able to see them again soon?"

He took off his sombrero, and placed it down the gap between his seat and Snappy's legs. Then, Boron looked down at it for a few seconds, before looking back up. The weather may have seemed beautiful to his eyes, but the thoughts of leaving the city behind caused him to give out a howl, echoing around the area. Neo looked back at him, then he soon faced the path ahead again.

"Someday. I just know it."

The thoughts of his friends and his past over at his home town of Panama City flashed through his memory as the jeep went further ahead down the path. Even now, they may be leaving someone behind, but at the same time, they know that they could be doing the same thing for someone else when tomorrow comes round the corner.

(scene flashes white)

The scene switches back over to the present, with the cloud filled skies going across the area instead of the pleasant skies. The woman was still there, reading through the book, and she was finally down to the last paragraph in it. Her glasses started to give off a light twinkle in the lights inside her home.

"I watch upon the stars every night, waiting for that moment to come alive for me again. Even now I wonder when exactly did the travelers from the future came through the warp through time and space. But all I know, is that it's waiting for me over the horizon."

With that, she closed the book gently, and removed the tip of her glasses, to wipe the tear away from her eyes. She then stood up, and looked to the left, where Volcano Isle still stood with its pig's head. She then faced the other side, where she saw that the whole city was in working order again. She finally gave out a smile, before she slipped the book on a nearby wooden table, and she started to make her way down a bunch of velvet-covered stairs, while the memories settled into her heart.

It wasn't long until the woman finally touched down at the bottom of the stairs. She soon passed several photographs nearby, all of which showing the progression of her growing up, from baby to adult. One of which showed her teenage form, and we can now instantly tell that the woman, was Beverley in an older guise.

"Martha!"

Her shouts echoed around the corridors, before... the sound of tapping can be heard from the right. She blinked, before she rushed inside. Her eyes met with the furnishings around her, and in a corner was a woman with curly ginger hair, sitting in a wheelchair, and having a mask over her mouth and one of her hands.

"I know that you're handicapped, but please, I need to leave to meet someone. Surely you can manage on your own, right?"

She walked up to her, and all Martha could do was look on at her with her hair blowing lightly in the draft. Then, she looked down, with her eyes almost fully closed around her. She soon had the courage to look back up to her sister, with paler blue eyes than in previous years.

"I just wish that you didn't go to Volcano Isle to check out the new places a few days after its restoration. I just wish there was a way that I can help you."

She then sat down on a chair next to her, leaving them to look on at each other. They were left in silence for a while, with the sound of bird tweeting starting to pass their way around them. Then, Martha started to stir slightly, and over time, she raised her middle finger up into the air.

"You... really think there's a way around this?"

It took a lot of strength for her to gather, and she then nodded. Then, it struck her - the book. She quickly dashed out of the room, and came back down later with it in her hands. She started to skim read over some of the pages again, and then, she started to smile at the sight.

"Wow, I never realized that he knew much about the island as much as I did!"

Her eyes lit up with love in her eyes. Now she knows that there is another reason to leave - if seeing "him" was her original intention of leaving in the first place. At the sight, Martha raised her other hand to pull down her mask, covered in cuts and bruises. But within the mass of injuries, a smile was brought from there.

"Wish me luck, Martha!"

She packed the book into a bag, before she looked over at Martha. She brought the mask back over her face, and her hand fell back down onto the rails of the wheelchair, falling like a ton of bricks. She gave her a hug, before she walked outside the room. Her eyes met with the front door, and that caused her to push them wide open.

"As promised Neo, there's a time on the horizon that we'll meet again. No doubt about it."

With that, she stepped further into the cloud-filled skies along the town. She then saw a nearby car, with an open roof on it. With that, she smiled, and went towards it. She brought the bag inside the seat next to the driver, and climbed in herself. She took out a set of keys, and started the vehicle. From there, she pressed lightly onto the pedal. As she brought it round to the main road, she looked back at her penthouse, curious if she left something else. Then, she started progressing her way down the street, with her hair blowing in the wind, knowing that something was waiting for her on the horizon, willing to be searched for.

And yet today, she is still looking for him.

-fin-

_"Schoolhouse Rock: Symphony of the Future" is © Rexy 2003-2004. Crash Bandicoot and all related characters are © Universal Interactive Studios 1996-2004. All rights reserved._


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